Strike renews public-private sector docker strife in Marseilles

Dockers staged a one-day strike at Marseilles' Mourepiane Container Terminal, to protest the French government's plan to privatise waterfront work to improve cargo handling efficiency.
Dockers are protesting plans to have private terminal operators employ, train and discipline them instead of having the government continue to do it, reports the Financial Times.
Serving both the public port authority that owns the equipment and the terminal operators who use it has led to productivity problems, said the newspaper.
Container shipping lines are reluctant to call at French ports as shorter French working hours mean that ships can be stranded in port for up to three hours more than in neighbouring countries, said the FT.
Some 30-40 per cent of French containers go through the Netherlands, Belgium or other neighbouring countries, and Paris believes greater efficiency can win them back for France.
Paris has been reluctant to confront the union, appearing to have backed down a year ago in Marseilles when dockers successfully resisted attempts to allow non-port authority workers operate the newly opened LNG terminal.