French service stations have run low on, or out of, petrol
The French government on Tuesday threatened to forcibly break blockades of refineries and oil depots, which have been paralysed by strike action, and said it would force some workers to return to their jobs.
Motorists continued to besiege petrol stations many of which were low on, or out of, petrol, as strike action at energy giant TotalEnergies and other oil majors entered its third week and wage talks stalled.
Government ministers and President Emmanuel Macron have urged a negotiated resolution to the crisis, but on Tuesday government spokesman Olivier Veran threatened force to end the blockades which have paralysed several of France’s refineries and oil depots.
If blockades were not ended “immediately”, Veran told the RTL broadcaster, “we could intervene to lift them”.
He said ongoing action by the hard-left CGT union at TotalEnergies installations was “excessive and out of line”.
Also on Tuesday, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called breaking up the blockades “the only solution”.
– ‘They don’t respect us’ –
But stoppages continued at several refineries, including at France’s biggest near Le Havre in the north of the country, after strikers at TotalEnergies Tuesday voted to extend their action.
“We are still waiting for details from management on what they want to negotiate on,” Eric Sellini, coordinator for the CGT union at the oil major, told AFP.
The CGT at the French branch of Esso-ExxonMobil on Tuesday also renewed its strike call, even though it was outvoted on Monday by a majority of other union representatives who signed a pay deal.
The government said it would not tolerate continued stoppages at the company, and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she would order the striking Esso-ExxonMobil workers to return to their posts or face prison or fines.
“Some unions, despite an agreement, want to continue the blockages,” she told parliament. “This, we cannot accept.”
She said “essential personnel” would be “requisitioned” to ensure the functioning of the oil depots.
At Fos-sur-Mer, in southern France, home to refineries run by TotalEnergies and Esso, strikers said their working conditions had been getting worse for years.
“For the past 10 years we have not been getting the slightest recognition for our work,” said one worker who joined Esso 24 years ago.
“Not only don’t they pay us enough, they also don’t respect us,” agreed CGT spokesman Fabien Cros at the neighbouring TotalEnergies installation.
– ‘What a mess’ –
Motorists formed long queues outside petrol stations from dawn on Tuesday. In central Paris, traffic slowed as waiting cars blocked roads, cycle paths and pedestrian crossings, hoping to be served before the pumps went dry.
Many used social media to exchange tips. One post in a Facebook group Monday said that a local BP service station would be resupplied “at 2:30 pm”. Another replied: “It’s now 2:37 pm and they’re out of diesel.”
Another user reacted: “What a mess.”
Jefferson Saint-Louis, a taxi driver, said that “without fuel we can’t work. I’m just going to go home”.
The petrol crisis comes at a time of high energy prices and inflation that are sapping French households’ purchasing power.
The left-wing opposition coalition Nupes has called for a “March against the high cost of living” in Paris and elsewhere on Sunday.
At the weekend, several prominent French people came out in support of the initiative, including this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Annie Ernaux.
– ‘An entire country hostage’-
Opposition politicians on the left were quick to criticise the government’s hardening stance Tuesday.
“With this government, when dialogue stalls, it’s threats for the wage earners and caresses for the bosses,” tweeted Manuel Bompard, a deputy for the leftwing LFI party.
Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right RN party, said that “super profits at Total and the salary of the chairman” made worker demands “not unreasonable”.
But Gilles Platret, vice president of the conservative LR party, backed the government’s tougher stance, saying strikers were “taking an entire country hostage”.
TotalEnergies posted a profit of $5.7 billion in the second quarter of the year, more than double the year-earlier figure.
CEO Patrick Pouyanne’s total compensation package was worth 5.9 million euros ($5.7 million) in 2021, up 52 percent from the previous year’s, according to the group’s annual report.
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