France’s biggest hydroelectric power site at Grand’Maison has been shut down by workers protesting against government plans to change the pension system, a branch of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) union said.
The protest was launched by the union’s CGT Energie Isere branch, it wrote on Facebook.
The disruption to the Grand’Maison power site comes just a day after energy workers protesting against French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform plans cut power to Paris’ wholesale food market.
The sabotage of power supplies underlines the determination of left-wing unions after a wave of strikes and street protests since early last month have failed to force Macron to back down.
The government has said that its proposed changes to the system would make it more simple and equitable, but critics have said that it would result in people having to work longer to get a full pension.
Tuesday’s deliberate outage lasted about two hours. It hit users in the southern suburbs of Paris, which include the Orly International Airport and the massive Rungis market that supplies food to the Paris region.
Franck Jouanno, a local leader of the CGT union, said that power grid workers targeted the area because it is one of “the economic lungs of Europe.”
“It’s symbolic,” Jouanno said of the power cut. “It made a buzz and that’s what everyone wants.”
The CGT is pushing for a complete withdrawal of the French government’s plans to overhaul the country’s pension system.
The planned reforms have triggered six weeks of protests and crippling transport strikes, but with many striking transport workers returning to work, and train services largely restored in Paris and nationwide, hardcore protesters are looking for other methods to keep up the pressure on Macron and his centrist government.
Jouanno described the Paris households that lost power when families were starting their day as “collateral damage.”
“It bothers me, but unfortunately there is always an impact and a power cut isn’t the end of the world,” he told reporters.
Additional reporting by AP
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