2 yıl önce

France braces for nationwide strike as fuel shortage crisis aggravates

Leading unions have called for strikes on Tuesday in their biggest challenge yet to President Emmanuel Macron since he won a new presidential term in May.

AFP

Motorists scrambled to fill tanks as the fuel strike, which has lasted for nearly three weeks, cripples supplies at just over 30 percent of France's service stations.

France is bracing for a nationwide transport strike action as the government and unions remained in deadlock over walkouts at oil depots that have sparked fuel shortages.

Tuesday's strike comes after workers at several refineries and depots operated by energy giant TotalEnergies voted to extend their strike action, defying the government which has begun to force staff back on the job.

The government, increasingly impatient with the striking workers, said it was forcing key staff back to work.

"The time for negotiation is over," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told the BFMTV broadcaster Monday.

The government said it would begin to requisition workers at the Feyzin depot in southeastern France on Monday, having already employed the same strategy at the Mardyck depot in the north of the country.

Fuel workers voted to continue stoppages at several refineries run by TotalEnergies, the coordinator for the hard-left CGT union Eric Sellini said, rejecting a pay package agreed between the group's management and mainstream unions.

Three out of seven of the country's oil refineries and five major fuel depots (out of around 200) are affected, the government said.

'Severe disruptions'

Unions in other industries and the public sector have also announced action to protest against the twin impact of soaring energy prices and overall inflation on the cost of living.

Rail operator SNCF will see "severe disruptions" with half of train services cancelled, Transport Minister Clement Beaune said.

Suburban services in the Paris region as well as bus services will also be imp acted, operator RATP said, but the inner-Paris metro system should be mostly unaffected.

Beyond transport workers, unions hope to bring out staff in sectors such as the food industry and healthcare, CGT boss Philippe Martinez told France Inter radio.

Their action will kick off what is likely to be a tense autumn and winter as Macron also seeks to implement his flagship domestic policy of raising the French retirement age.

But the economic squeeze partly caused by Russia's incursion in Ukraine, along with the failure of Macron's party to secure an overall majority in June legislative polls, only adds to the magnitude of the task.