SNCF called upon to break SeaFrance deadlock

A French union confederation has called on SeaFrance's parent, national rail company SNCF, to intervene in the dispute which has halted the ferry company's sailings between Dover and Calais for the last eight days.

The CGT confederation, to which SeaFrance's striking officers belong, called on the chairman of SNCF to use his authority to force the company's management to open negotiations with the strikers without conditions.

SeaFrance chairman Eudes Riblier insisted today, however, that he would not talk to union representatives so long as the strike, which he said was costing the company 300,000 Euros per day, continued.

"The situation at SeaFrance is grave," he said in a letter to personnel. "I am open, as I have always been, to social dialogue but this cannot be exercised under pressure of strike."

Mr. Riblier insisted that the salary increases sought by the company's seafarers could not be granted without corresponding productivity gains but said that he had submitted that their other claims to the French authorities for advice.

Apart from their salary claims, which SeaFrance says would amount to an increase of 25% over three years, the officers are pressing for authorisation to stay aboard ships for up to 72 hours rather than 48 hours at present and to have dropped the requirement that they live within two hours drive of the port of Calais.

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