Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scrapps who wrote (8628)	11/5/1997 3:05:00 PM
From: Moonray	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 22053

Violence mars talks to end French truckers strike PARIS (Reuters) - Violence erupted at the barricades of the French truckers' strike Wednesday, threatening new efforts to end a gridlock that has paralyzed France and infuriated its European partners. But the atmosphere at the negotiating table was hopeful. ''This time, it looks like the bosses have finally understood what is happening at the roadblocks,'' Roger Poletti of the trade union Force Ouvriere (FO) told reporters after the first, 90-minute round of talks. ''The whole tone is now rather positive,'' said Joel Le Coq of the CFDT union. But Le Coq warned that the mood could sour if strikers came under attack from truckers seeking to break through the their roadblocks. Violence erupted early Wednesday when a dozen masked men charged a strikers' roadblock near Marseille, beating three truckers with iron bars and forcing an opening for about 12 refrigerator trucks. One striker was rushed to the hospital with serious head injuries from the attack at Vitrolles in southern France. The union leaders and their negotiating partners of France's haulers associations returned to talks at about 4 p.m. after a lunch break of about four hours. Traffic officials counted 174 roadblocks, with Normandy, the Marseille area and the Rhone Valley worst hit. Gasoline shortages and hoarding of foodstuffs were reported around the country. While France's trading partners were concerned with gaining unimpeded access to markets through France, Paris stressed the right to strike. Spain says some 8,000 Spanish trucks have been delayed, trapped by roadblocks or forced to take alternative routes and Spanish farmers have threatened a boycott of French goods if the strike continues. An estimated 350,000 French truckers are involved in the strike in which the unions want an hourly wage for drivers, who say they often put in long days on the road without getting fully paid for them. The employers prefer a yearly or monthly salary. The French branch of computer modem maker U.S. Robotics, a unit of 3Com Corp., chartered a helicopter to bypass truckers' roadblocks at the Belgian border, company sources said. The helicopter loaded goods in the northern town of Lesquin, flew over roadblocks and unloaded them in the Belgian town of Miscron 10 miles away to be placed on Belgian trucks. Company sources said some customers in Europe had threatened to cancel contracts if goods were not delivered on schedule. o~~~ O