European Fuel Strike

Thousands of European truckers join fuel protests Mon Jun 9, 1:51 PM
ET
Tens of thousands of truckers in Spain, France and Portugal on Monday
stepped up protests against rising fuel prices, causing mayhem on
highways and blocking border crossings.
Huge tailbacks built up around major cities and on the French-Spanish
border as French fishermen in Mediterranean ports ended their
three-week strike over the spiralling cost of fuel.
Spain's second largest hauliers' union Fenadismer, which claims to
represent 70,000 out of Spain's 380,000 truck drivers, launched an
open-ended strike on Monday. It said it was "peaceful" but followed
"massively".
Talks Monday between the hauliers and the government ended in failure,
Fenadismer said.
"Fenadismer will maintain its national strike" as the government's
proposals were "insufficient", it said.
Trucks jammed several main highways including at the frontier with
France, according to traffic officials, who also reported massive
snarls in Madrid and Valencia.
A Spanish truckers' group calling itself the Platform for the Defence
of the Transport Sector, who say they speak for 50,000 truckers,
walked off the job last week. They have threatened to disrupt the
opening this weekend of the International Exposition in Zaragosa.
The conservative Spanish newspaper ABC said the aim of the strikers
was to block oil supplies from refineries and stocks at retail markets
this week.
Spanish media said the number of trucks at wholesale markets on Monday
were considerably lower than usual.
French truckers struggling with high fuel costs staged fresh protests
near the Spanish border and in the southwest.
Several trucks from the southern city of Perpignan disrupted traffic
at border posts, preventing trucks from crossing and causing a
tailback of some 10 kilometres (six miles) on both sides of the
border. Private cars were allowed through.
Protestors branded banners which read: "Trucker = Unemployed," and
"It's the end of our profession."
Some 200 trucks converged on the four main motorways leading into
Bordeaux Monday morning, causing 30 kilometers (20 miles) of tailbacks
in and around the city.
"We are demanding immediate measures" to counter the impact of high
fuel prices, said Jean-Pierre Morlin, president of the European
trucking organisation for the Aquitaine region.
Portugal's Transport Minister Mario Lino was to meet later Monday with
representatives of road transport associations in a bid to end the
strike by truckers who have threatened to "paralyze" the country.
According to police, trucks parked at petrol pumps were stoned
overnight or while they were on the road after the strike started at
midnight.
Many had their windscreens shattered.
The strikers also blocked entrances to several factories. According to
industry figures, there are some 40,000 truckers in Portugal serving
an estimated 5,000 firms.
However, French fishermen from Mediterranean ports on Monday ended a
three-week strike ahead of a key meeting of European fisheries
ministers.
"All of the fleets from the Mediterranean ports went back to work this
morning, but we remain very vigilant," said Ange Natoli, a
representative of the Mediterranean fishing fleets.
Fleets in the Channel ports of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais and Dunkirk
last week called off their strike pending the talks.
Portuguese fishermen called off their five-day-old strike on
Wednesday.
However, their counterparts in Spain, home to Europe's largest fishing
fleet, maintained their "indefinite" stoppage launched May 30.
"Almost all the ports in Spain are on strike," said the head of the
Spanish Fisheries Confederation, Javier Garat.
EU fisheries ministers meet on June 23-24 tackle the fuel crisis.
Marine diesel prices have leapt by around 30 percent since the start
of 2008, triggering protests in European ports as well as warnings