Eric Vercoutre: The controversial Calais union leader who has divided opinion while causing major cross-Channel disruption

He is the bearded face and the strident voice of the dispute that threatens to cause recurrent misery for cross-Channel travellers this summer. To his followers, Eric Vercoutre is a courageous guerrilla fighter against big business and the British and French governments. To his enemies, however, he is an old-fashioned union gang boss – a reincarnation of the aggressive docklands trades-unionism portrayed in the movie On the Waterfront.