STRIKES WORLDWIDE * Colombia - Truckers Strike in Bogota

Protests over ending fixed freight price system snarl traffic in capital

(Video from YouTube, by ipiposhockcol -17 Oct 2008: Colombia's road accident. See driver's recklessness and lack of solidarity from watchers therein)

Bogota,Colombia -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Dana L. Brundage -Feb 15, 2011: --  Colombian truck drivers, on strike for more than two weeks, are blocking major roadways in the capital city of Bogota, causing a complete standstill during rush hour and forcing residents to walk to work... The 120,000-member Truckers Association is protesting the government's decision to put an end to minimum trucking rates and opening freight prices up to market forces. The strike is severely affecting the country's coffee export industry... According to reports, Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos said the fixed freight price system was "obsolete," noting that the country would be able to compete on a higher level regarding exports without the system in place... Colombia is currently in negotiations with China on a transcontinental rail operation through the South American nation. The "dry canal" would help China to move goods more easily through the region while helping Colombia to compete with the Panama Canal...

* Colombia: Truckers Drop Roadblocks. Strike against deregulation efforts will continue in Bogota

Bogota,Colombia -The Journal of Commerce Online -Feb 17, 2011:   ... Truckers in Colombia will stop blocking roads in Bogota but will maintain their strike against a government plan to deregulate freight rates... Colombia's government announced the end of the roadblocks, which had disrupted the capital for several days... The government had threatened to break up the roadblocks with riot police, raising the heat on protests against Colombia's plan to eliminate minimum freight rates... The strike in South America follows similar disruptions last year in Greece, where truckers blocked roads around Athens over plans to deregulate trucking rates there...


* France - Dockworkers, Employers Open Talks

Le Havre,France -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bruce Barnard -Feb 15, 2011: -- CGT warns strikes to resume if three-day meeting fails to make progress... French dockworkers and port employers Feb. 15 began negotiations aimed at resolving a dispute over pensions that has provoked rolling nationwide strikes since the beginning of the year... The talks, between the CGT, the largest dockworker union, private port companies and the leading port authorities, are scheduled to last for three days... The CGT, which suspended its six-week long strike campaign last week, has warned it will stage further stoppages from Friday, Feb. 18, if the negotiations do not make progress... The union wants port employers to honor an agreement in principle they signed last October which would allow four years early retirement for up to 6,000 dockworkers with arduous jobs...  (Photo from hiphopandpolitics: Boots france docks)