France's truckers are to block roads for several weeks from November 22 if employers do not agree to a pay claim for an extra month's salary per year, raising the spectre of paralysis at a key freight crossroads in Europe.
The head of the main union in the sector said the truckers' blockade would begin four days before other French workers launch strikes and protests over government policy.
Truckers crippled freight traffic for two weeks in 1996 and for a week in 1997 by blockading ports and borders in France, which has land frontiers with nearly half a dozen countries and major shipping links with Ireland and England.
"We're ready for a prolonged conflict," Joel Le Coq, head of the truckers' branch of the large CFDT union, said after employer organisations ruled out the demands for extra wages adding that "it could last for weeks."
The CFDT and another big union, the CGT, want confirmation that companies would be willing to give drivers an extra month's salary per year, even if they could not make the payments immediately.
Industry bosses rejected the demand yesterday. While no further negotiations are planned, Arnaud Renaud, leader of the truckers branch of the CGT union, said there was still time for employers to reconsider.
"There's two weeks ahead of us to get a response," he said.
Other trade unions have started mobilising in earnest for a day of protest on November 26 over fears that the government is bent on paring down France's public services. The relatively small CFTC issued a statement urging staff at La Poste to stop work at the post office network on November 26 and called on employees at the ailing state-controlled France Telecom to follow suit.
Another civil service union issued similar calls after parliament adopted overnight a law designed to put an end to early retirement rights. "This is a first offensive against the pension system," the civil service branch of the CGT union said.