The Spanish Young Farmers Association have called for a boycott of French goods. In Ireland 3,000 fishery workers could be laid off while exporters and hauliers face losses of nearly 2 million a day. The culmination of this is to blame the French workers for engaging in what is a just strike. Their pay and working conditions are unacceptable for European workers. For example one of the workers' key demands is an hourly wage rate of 5.88 which has been denied by employers.
Drivers also work very long hours.
Part of the reason for such low pay and long hours in France is competition from Portuguese truckers. It raises the question of what is the point in having a single market for business if there isn't a single market for workers that guarantees their rights. This is the core issue of the dispute, if French workers rights are being denied because of conditions in other EU states, it makes the EU structures laughable. Yes, there are costs for Irish business and workers because of the strike, but the French workers deserve and need our support because the denial of their rights today could be ours tomorrow. Don't hold your breath.