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French protests cause Channel travel chaos

UPDATED: Hundreds of protesting French sailors on Tuesday forced the suspension of Eurotunnel services between France and Britain in both directions after torching tyres on the tracks, causing traffic and travel chaos.

Published: 23 June 2015 16:37 CEST
French protests cause Channel travel chaos
Eurotunnel services halted amid protests and Calais will remain closed until 8pm as port workers protest. Photo: AFP

The demonstrations also sparked a scramble among some of the thousands of illegal migrants camped in Calais hoping to reach Britain, as they battled to hitch a ride on vehicles stuck in traffic.

“We have been notified that protesters have gained access to rail tracks which means that for safety reasons Eurotunnel have to temporarily suspend their service,” the firm said in a statement.

A spokeswoman told AFP protesters had “got onto the tracks and were burning tyres.”

The company was advising travellers to postpone their journey unless it is essential.

At 4pm, the cross-channel Eurostar service shut down too.
 
“All trains are suspended for now, this is not something we are in control of and it's entirely dependent on the tunnel,” a spokesperson at Eurostar told The Local. 
 
He added that there were no trains stuck inside the tunnel, but that there were “some” stuck along the line, adding that all customers were being taken care of. 
 
“We're advising passengers, however, to avoid coming to the stations at all until we have further information.”
 
 
Some 200 MyFerryLink workers who had forced their way onto the tracks and were later cleared out by French riot police using tear gas canisters.
 
The protesters already managed to occupy the docks in Calais port, preventing passengers from disembarking and forcing ferries to be diverted to the nearby port of Dunkirk.
 
At around 7:00pm (1700 GMT), Eurotunnel services resumed but not Eurostar passenger links, local official Fabienne Buccio told AFP.
   
Port traffic was also due to resume later Tuesday evening.
 

 

A reporter from AFP said the protest had provoked major traffic jams on the road leading up to the port with Eurotunnel representatives telling The Local that it was proving extremely hard for traffic to get through to the terminal.

There were long tailbacks on the A16 motorway and reports that migrants amassed in the area had taken advantage of the road chaos to try and board the stationary trucks.

 

Police have been forced to move in to try to protect the trucks.

Before Eurotunnel services were halted a spokesman told The Local that trucks and motorists faced chaos trying to get there.

“There are trucks all over the motorway and huge queues so getting through the blockade by port workers is extremely difficult,” he said.

The sailors, from the French ferry company MyFerryLink, were protesting plans by Eurotunnel to sell two of their ferries to rival firm DFDS.

Eurotunnel announced in May it was halting its operational partnership with MyFerryLink due to legal complications, and this month decided to sell its ferries to Danish group DFDS.

“It's out of the question that DFDS takes our boats. Never, never,” exclaimed the head of the main union on strike, Eric Vercoutre, who took up position with around 100 colleagues at the entrance to the tunnel in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

“We've been betrayed,” he said.

Unions say they fear as many as 120 jobs could be at risk from the potential sale.

Local MP Yann Capet said he was “furious” at the company's actions.

“When you're a big boss, you need to show responsibility and the social responsibility of a company can't just be a slogan,” he said.

Another protester said: “We just don't understand. The boats work very well… We're ready to get going again but I don't know when.”

 

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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