French government orders workers back as energy strikes continue
France's Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne warned striking oil industry workers on Sunday night that the government might once again use its so-called requisition powers to force workers back to their posts to ease fuel shortages. Essential workers at two storage depots have been ordered back to work Monday.
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Elisabeth Borne told TF1 television that, if the situation remained tense Monday, then the authorities would proceed with more requisitions like the ones enforced last week.
An estimated 30 percent of service stations were experiencing supply problems for one type of fuel or another, she said. "That's too many."
She appealed to those TotalEnergeies workers still on strike not to "block the country with all the difficulties that that creates".
Following three weeks of industrial action, three out of seven of the country's oil refineries and five major fuel depots (from a total of 200) are affected, the government said.
Workers at a storage depot in Dunkirk, and others at Feyzin in the Rhône have been requisitioned for duty on Monday. Those who refuse face six months jail and a 10,000 euro fine.
Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux, president of the Medef business lobby group, told Radio J that another week of fuel shortages could have a real impact on the economy.
"This isn't a normal strike," he added. "The right to strike has limits."
Farmers are struggling to find the fuel they need to plant winter crops, particularly in the north of the country.
Call for a general strike
Borne's warning came after tens of thousands marched through Paris Sunday to protest the rising cost of living, and government inaction over climate change.
The demonstration was called by the left-wing political opposition and led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, head of the France Unbowed (LFI) party.
Melenchon has backed calls by some trade unions for a general strike on Tuesday.
Opponents of President Emmanuel Macron are hoping to build on the momentum created by the refineries dispute, which began at the end of September.
"We're going to have a week the likes of which we don't see very often," Mélenchon told the crowd.
"Everything is coming together. We are starting it with this march, which is an immense success."
Mélenchon also called for a "general strike" on Tuesday. Some but not all unions have already declared the date a national day of strikes targetting road transport, trains and the public sector.
Public losing patience
A poll by the BVA polling group released on Friday suggested that only 37 percent of people supported the stoppages.
The strikes and protests are being closely watched by the government, which is aiming to pass a highly controversial change to the pensions system in the next few months.
Macron, who won re-election in April, has pledged to push back the retirement age from 62, with the reform scheduled before the end of the winter.
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