PARIS () -- Striking French truck drivers blocked Channel ports and German border crossings Monday as they stepped up protests on the eighth day of the most serious labor unrest in France this year.


Conservative Prime Minister Alain Jupp? renewed an appeal to truckers and haulage companies to reach a deal in talks over the strike that was slowly squeezing the French economy and provoking friction with France's neighbors.


"I'm following the talks hour by hour," Jupp? said after an all-night round of talks between bosses and drivers ended in deadlock over strikers' demands for higher wages, shorter hours and retirement at age 55 rather than 60.