Dockers and port staff at the ports of Nantes and Saint-Nazaire, represented by the Fédération Nationale des Ports et Docks CGT, have scheduled strike actions from late February through March 2025, protesting France’s state pension reforms.
The strikes, targeting operational disruptions, begin with a 48-hour action from 6:00 a.m. on February 26 to 6:00 a.m. on February 28, including a “port mort” day on February 27, halting all truck access, manutention, and maintenance, as reported by Ouest-France on February 25.
The conflict centers on excluding dockers and port workers from pension reforms, citing the physical demands of their work.
The 48-hour strike will see no cargo handling or maintenance, with blockages at key port locations like the Joubert dock in Saint-Nazaire, disrupting operations at France’s fourth-largest port, handling 32.4 million tons of cargo in 2024, down 2.1% from 2023.
Further strikes include a 72-hour action from March 18 to March 20, 2025, as part of a broader national campaign by the CGT, targeting pension reform impacts on port workers’ retirement age, currently allowing a four-year reduction under the collective agreement, now at risk under proposed changes to 64 years.
Previous disruptions, such as the April 2024 strikes over investment and job security, halted operations for 10 days, costing an estimated €10 million daily.
The strikes could delay 22 vessels scheduled for the Loire estuary, with 14 awaiting anchorage off Saint-Nazaire and five blocked at quays. The port, handling 1.2 million TEUs annually in 2024, faces potential losses of €15 million over the strike period.
The CGT’s demands follow President Macron’s 2023 pledge to exempt dockers, unmet due to government inaction, prompting a “report de force sans précédent” (unprecedented show of force), as Levy Guérin, CGT secretary at Saint-Nazaire, warned in March 2024.
Fédération Nationale des Ports et Docks CGT is a French trade union representing dockers and port workers, part of the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), headquartered in Paris.