French port strikes: Unions 'will get better working conditions', but can they curb militarisation?

Home France To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: © France 24 09:00 Issued on: 30/10/2026 - 17:20Modified: 30/10/2026 - 17:34 Carys Garland is pleased to welcome Renaud Foucart, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics ECARES at Lancaster University. An international dockworkers’ strike brings into focus the relationship between organized labor, technological change and Europe’s expanding military investment. Foucart argues that port workers’ strategic position in global supply chains gives them exceptional leverage: “They know how powerful they are.” While questioning their ability to redirect military policy, he expects that leverage to secure concessions on automation and working conditions: “They can get those concessions. And I think they will get them.” Keywords for this article Video content Video Europe Video content Video Europe Video content Video Europe Video content Video Europe Video content Video Europe Video content Video Europe Video conte...