A New Caledonian court has ordered the CSTNC union to pay more than 200,000 US dollars in compensation for losses caused to the SLN nickel company during last year's industrial action against the government and another nickel company.
The newspaper, Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, reports that the ruling made last week backed SLN's claim that it could in no way satisfy the demands of the union as it blockaded access to the comapny's facilities.
Last October, the CSTNC strike was called in a bid to oust the government, against the high cost of living and to demand the departure of Filipino workers employed by another nickel company.
The court found that the right to strike cannot be linked to the action taken against SLN which as a result of the disruption lost ten percent of its annual output.
The newspaper says the union is unlikely to have the means to pay the fine.
