Port workers in Marseille, France have threatened to strike in protest to new French legislation that would mandate management of dock equipment be sold to private companies. Port union officials charge the development could mark a decrease in public services and threaten hundreds of jobs in one of the Mediterranean's busiest ports. Shipping companies have taken to sending cargo to ports in Spain and Italy in lieu of the French strike.
See "French Port Workers to Strike Over Sale to Companies", Tara Patel, Bloomberg News, April 22, 2008