Lorry drivers strike over pay

LORRY drivers are striking across France today in a pay dispute.

Unions say they are targeting areas near business parks and logistics centres for protests, but also péages, giving out leaflets and slowing transport to a crawl.

However, they said they are mostly targeting business and do not want to cause traffic blockages across the country generally.

Protests were planned in Alsace, Midi-Pyrénées and Aquitaine starting last night with others underway this morning in Brittany, Ile-de-France and in the Nord.

The drivers are complaining that their salary scales have been frozen since 2012 and they say some of their wages have now dropped below the legal minimum. The minimum allowed to be paid to them under their contracts is €9.43/hour, when the Smic national minimum is €9.61.

The unions are asking that the minimum should be at least €9.82 for those who are least qualified.

However employers’ body the Fédération Nationale des Transports Routiers says times are hard because of international competition. “Our margins are only around 1% and a third of companies are in financial difficulties,” leader Nicolas Paulissen told Le Figaro.

The government has been trying to act as a go-between since last month, when annual worker/employer negotiations in the sector broke down. The employers had offered increases of 1-2% depending on pay grade.

According to the latest information, areas being affected today include:

• Near to the Val Bréon logistics area at Châtres, Seine-et-Marne

• On the A21 in the Paris-Lille direction and Lille to Paris on the A1, in the Nord.

• In Bas-Rhin on the A4 north of Strasbourg and at the Duppigheim business park

• At the freight area of Lyon-Saint-Exupéry airport

• Business parks in the Reims (Marne) area

• On the A31 at the Gye péage in Meurthe-et-Moselle.

• In both directions on the A84 near Caen (Calvados) and at a roundabout near to Rouen (Seine-Maritime).

• On the Rennes bypass (Ille-et-Vilaine) and on the Rennes to Le Mans road near Noyal-sur-Vilaine.

• At Donges (Loire-Atlantique), near Nantes near the Total refinery and at a roundabout at Parçay-Meslay in Indre-et-Loire.

• At the Caselnau-d’Estrétefonds transport centre north of Toulouse and on the A62 in the direction of Bordeaux where lorries are being prevented from entering.

• At the entrance to an oil depot at Bassens (Gironde).