French owners, unionists agree to hold trawler talks

After negotiating for 14 hours, shipowners and delegates from a left- wing fishermen's union signed a draft agreement early Wednesday stipulating that negotiations on trawler crew levels be opened before Oct. 1. But the Communist-led CGT trade union group, France's largest, has already rejected the agreement. Owners' plans to reduce manning levels are what started port blockades around the French coast. The draft does not concern independent fishermen, who are negotiating with the government over their demands for higher fuel subsidies.