drivers up

New Caledonia

Nickel drivers up in arms

VIOLENCE erupted twice in Noumea during the last week of April and the first week of last month as angry nickel truck drivers destroyed police cars, damaged the Southern Province building and later the gates of the High Commission. Three policemen were injured and eight dem onstrators were arrested, then released.

This was another episode in the long protest of a threatened profession in the crisis-ridden nickel industry.

The relief that followed the agreement signed on March 23 was short. The arrival from Europe of four large new trucks imported by a subsidiary of SOFINOR, a company owned by the pro-independence Northern Province, to operate at a new extracting site, created a furor among the members of the truck drivers’ union (formed of small contrac tors operating their own trucks nickel extracting sites). They immediately drove down to Noumea and parked

dozens of heavy vehicles at the entrance to the city and at the harbour. They claimed that the importing of these four trucks was contrary to the agreement reached in March to restrict the number of operators. This had been negotiated in order to maintain a minimum level of

activity for the profession. They argued

that they were in the red because they

had to pay for their trucks, while con tracts were getting scarce due to the nickel crisis.

The truckers had also realised that some of the other stipulations of the protocol accord, for example, tax exemp tion on fuel tyres and spare parts, required

legislative approval

by the Territorial Congress. An ap

pointment was arranged with deputy Jacques Lafleur, president of both the Rally for Caledonia in the Republic and the Southern Province, to ask him to expedite the process. The night before the appointment, without any warning, several dozen truck drivers dumped soil in front of the province building, broke gates and windows and damaged police cars, slightly injuring three policemen.

Eight of the demonstrators were arrested

and later released. The appointment was nevertheless maintained between Lafleur and a delegation of the truck drivers led by their president Max Fouchet. During the meeting gendarmes and armoured vehicles were placed between the build ing and 60 or so nickel trucks which had been stationed in the huge parking lot in front of the building as a demonstration

of force. Fouchet said he was “not very proud” of the truckers’ violence, but

explained they felt they were being

“ignored”.

The president of the Territorial Con gress, Senator Simon Loueckhotte, who had just returned from abroad, met with the truck drivers, but their demand for an immediate meeting of the Congress would not be met because of the lengthy

procedures required. □

Cause for protest: a nickel smelter in Noumea