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Protesting French ferry workers ransack boat

French ferry workers who caused travel chaos in Calais this summer have caused millions of euros of damage by trashing one of the ferries before handing it over to Eurotunnel. Every single seat was slashed with a box cutter, reports say

Protesting French ferry workers ransack boat
One of the My Ferry Link boats that was trashed by striking French ship workers. Photo: AFP

Striking French ferry workers who caused travel chaos in Calais trashed one of the two ships they occupied for two months, drank its bars dry, slashed hundreds of seats with box-cutters, and stole televisions and fridges, the ships' owner, Eurotunnel, has said.

The damage was revealed by experts sent in last week to inspect the MyFerryLink boats as Eurotunnel prepares to hand them over to DFDS ferry operator after a deal reached  to resolve the industrial dispute.

“Somebody systematically slashed every single seat, bench and armchair in the cafés, bars and public areas,” Eurotunnel spokesman John Keefe told The Daily Telegraph.

The seats are believed to cost between €300 and €500 each, and the total amount of damage done to the ships could be more than two million euros.

“They trashed the bars, smashed the cash registers and helped themselves to fridges, televisions and sound equipment,” said Mr Keefe.

It will cost several hundred thousand euros to replace or repair the emergency evacuation chutes and the lifeboats of both the Rodin and the Berlioz ferries that were deployed by the workers during the dispute.

Around 25 workers from the Syndicat Maritime Nord (SMN) union occupied each of the two ships moored in Calais docks since early July in a protest over the potential loss of 600 jobs caused by the sale of MyFerryLink to Denmark's DFDS.

The strikers also blocked roads leading to the port, burning tyres on motorways, and brought trains using the cross-Channel tunnel to a halt when they invaded the nearby Eurotunnel terminal.

No-one was immediately available at the SMN union to comment on the accusations by Eurotunnel when contacted by The Local. But its leader, Eric Vercoutre, told local media late last week that he disapproved of the “unfortunate” slashing of the seats on the Rodin.

He also said he was proud of the “admirable combat” of the ferry workers.

Under a deal struck last Monday to resolve the dispute, 402 French ferry workers workers will be kept on.

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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.

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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