France’s CGT union yesterday sought to choke off power and fuel supplies and hamper the country’s public transport network in a showdown with the French government, which refused to withdraw a labor law reform.
Ahead of nationwide street demonstrations, workers responded to the union’s call by stopping work at oil refineries, nuclear power stations and state railways, also erecting roadblocks, burning wooden pallets and tires at key ports like Le Havre and near key distribution hubs.
The standoff, which raises the specter of disruption during the France-hosted Euro 2016 soccer tournament that is to open on June 10, was condemned both by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and the nation’s other big trade union, the CFDT.
Photo: AP
After months of rolling protests sparked by a reform that seeks to make hiring and firing easier, yesterday’s stoppages and street marches were being watched closely as a test of whether the CGT-led opposition is solid or at risk of fizzling out.
“There is no question of changing tack, even if adjustments are always possible,” Valls said, adding that he would in no case scrap the part of the law that put prompted the CGT action in the first place.
That part of the law would allow firms to opt out of national obligations on labor protection if they adopt in-house deals on pay and conditions with the consent of a majority of employees.
However, in a further sign of disagreements within the ruling Socialist party over how to find a way out of the crisis, French Minister of Finance Michel Sapin told LCP television that “maybe” that article of the bill should be tweaked.
The SNCF state train company said that upward of two-thirds of national, regional and local rail connections were operating, suggesting stoppages by railworkers were hurting less than last week when a similar strike halved the number of trains running.
After police intervention in recent days to lift blockades at refineries and fuel distribution depots, Valls said 20 to 30 percent of fuel stations were dry or short of certain fuel.
“The situation is less worriesome as of today [yesterday],” French Minister of Transport Alain Vidalies said.
Deliveries of fuel from depots to the petrol pump were now improving, Vidalies added.
French nuclear power capacity was cut by as much as 5 gigawatts due to stoppages. That is equivalent to just over 6 percent of the nation’s total production capacity.
Power industry experts have said the nuclear plant strike is unlikely to provoke blackouts, due to legal limits on strike action in the nuclear industry and power imports from abroad.
France has also mobilized its strategic fuel reserves to keep filling stations running.
A protest over pension funding reform in 2010 fizzled out once the government of the time started breaking up fuel supply depots and railworkers became strained by stoppages that hit their paychecks.
The CGT was fighting a more lonely battle this time, as it does not have backing from the other major union.
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