No plans to end French strikes – union

Tom Brown

26-May-2016

Fuel strike causes queues at Total service station in Paris

LONDON (ICIS)–There are no plans to end the industrial action taking place across France unless the government softens it stance on the labour reforms pushed through several weeks ago, a representative of union Force Ouvriere (FO) said on Thursday.

The country’s eight refineries remain blockaded and under strike action, which FO is participating in, according to Marjorie Alexandre, confederal assistant at the union.

There has been talk by the government of sending in forces to break up the blockades around the refineries, according to Alexandre, but this would not necessarily affect productivity at the sites.

“They could send some forces to the refineries, but I do not see the point… workers would not go to work,” Alexandre said, speaking in Paris ahead of a demonstration scheduled for this afternoon.

The impact of the strikes has intensified since they were first instituted last week, with power production slowing at several nuclear plants – France’s key energy source – and many key highways and ports remaining blocked by workers.

The French government has reportedly begun to utilise its strategic fuel reserves as a growing number of petrol stations start to run dry.

It has also started to bite for the chemicals industry, deprived of access to feedstocks from upstream refineries and crackers, and in some case unable to deliver product through blockades and strangled roads.

The industry could be losing around €10m/day from strikes at present, the director general of industry trade group l’Union des industries chimiques (UIC), but that figure could increase to €30m/day by the end of the week if the strikes do not abate.

Reports differ on the extent that production is currently affected at the refineries, with oil industry group Union Francaise des Industries Petrolieres (UFIP) estimating that full strike action is currently in place at four (see below).


Image source: BALEYDIER/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock

Additional reporting by Cuckoo James

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