The French Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, intervened in the worsening truck drivers' strike yesterday. He said any agreement between employers and unions would be extended to the entire trucking industry, and promised to present draft legislation to enforce labour laws affecting ground transport by next Monday. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has told Mr Jospin that if the strike is prolonged it could affect employment. The Cabinet discussed the matter yesterday and the Minister for Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, has asked the EU Transport Commissioner, Mr Neil Kinnock, to put pressure on the French to resolve the dispute.
The Irish Exporters Association said the amount of export trade being disrupted by the strike was estimated at £10 million a day. About 12 per cent of this figure consists of perishable products.
Mr Jospin's statement, in response to questions in the French National Assembly, fulfilled two demands by the lorry drivers, who have taken France hostage since their strike began on Sunday night. An accord proposed earlier was rejected by the majority of truckers because it would have awarded significant pay rises to, at most, 10,000 long-distance drivers; 340,000 people are employed by the French trucking industry, 220,000 of them drivers. Mr Jospin has now promised to raise all of their salaries.
Mr Jospin's policies are sure to enrage the UFT (Union of Transport Federations), the employers' group that represents 80 per cent of trucking companies. The UFT pulled out of talks last Saturday and had promised to return this morning. The UFT rejected the agreement proposed by drivers' unions and the smaller Unostra management association on Sunday, but the Communist Transport Minister, Mr Jean-Claude Gayssot, has said he may impose an agreement on the UFT.
Gaullist parliamentarians condemned Mr Jospin for failing to guarantee freedom of movement on French highways, a criticism repeated by President Chirac's spokeswoman. The European Commission threatened to take France to the European Court of Justice for failing to ensure free passage across its territory.
A European request for free corridors for European lorry drivers was rejected by the French Transport Ministry on the grounds that it would provoke French truckers and would be almost impossible to enforce. Mr Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, said the crisis will be at the top of the agenda at the Franco-British summit in London tomorrow.
Many Frenchmen share the assessment of the centre-right former finance minister, Mr Alain Madelin, that "this is not a strike; it's an insurrection." Last night truckers had set up 157 barricades across the country. All but one of France's 13 refineries have been unable to deliver fuel since they were blockaded by strikers, and serious petrol shortages were reported in 40 of France's 96 mainland departments. The ports of Calais, Boulogne and Le Havre are paralysed, and strikers briefly stopped access to the Channel Tunnel freight terminal.
