In Paris, France, truck drivers, whose protests disrupted the nation for nearly two weeks last November, called for a strike on May 5 after early retirement negotiations broke down, union officials said.
Truck company owners and drivers failed to finalize a deal, drawn up at the end of last year’s 12-day strike, allowing drivers to retire at 55 and improving work conditions.
The General Labor Confederation, a leftist union, said it had not given orders to truckers to block roads during the May strike.
At the height of last year’s strike action, more than 250 road blocks prevented fuel and food deliveries and caused huge traffic jams. Foreign truck drivers were also caught in the blockades.
And in New Delhi, India, more than 1.5 million trucks went off the roads in India, protesting a new five percent tax, United News of India said.
India’s largest union of truck operators said it decided to go ahead with the indefinite strike despite a political crisis that threatens to bring down the 14-party coalition government in New Delhi.
The All India Motors Transport Congress, which claims to represent nearly all of India’s truck and commercial vehicle operators, urged the government to withdraw the new tax imposed on goods transported by road.
In western state of Maharashtra, all 60,000 booking agencies shut business hours before the strike began.
—Associated Press