PARIS, Nov. 8 -- French truck drivers have torn down the last roadway barricade erected in a crippling five-day nationwide strike that is now over. More than 320,000 of the striking drivers are back at work, allowing the resupply of markets and movement from earlier blockaded refineries to the more than 40 percent of empty gas stations.
Produce and goods from all across France and neighboring countries in Europe are now moving freely along the highways. The last barricade came down at 4 p.m. (local time) today in the Saone-et-Loire area between Paris and Lyon. The agreement late Friday by the largest drivers' union to accept a 6 percent pay hike from employers effectively forced other unions to go along, thus ending the strike. It was the pro-Socialist French Democratic Labor Confederation (CFDT), representing almost 80 percent of the drivers that made the deal. Many of the 180 barricades across France were quickly taken down despite smaller unions and many drivers denouncing the pact as a sell out. The strike infuriated neighboring European countries whose drivers were held up at the borders and caught within France unable to move freely with their goods and produce. The smaller unions, including the pro-Communist CGT, the independent Force Ouvriere, the minority Christian union CFTC and the autonomous drivers' union FNCR, denounced the deal as insufficient. Prime Minister Lionel Jospin has promised claims for compensation from foreign trucking firms hit by French truckers strikes and blockades this year and last would be addressed within three months. The amount of compensatory strike money owed by France is estimated in the millions. ---
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