It’s a watchword that leaves little room for ambiguity: “Get even more strikers”! From Thursday 26 and Friday 27 January, the CGT called for a strike in refineries, power stations and docks, in order to protest against the pension reform, presented to Parliament next Monday. Emmanuel Macron’s project, which plans to shift the retirement age to 64 and to abolish the special schemes at EDF or Engie, has aroused the opposition of all the unions, which announce a day of national mobilization January 31.
Until then, the CGT therefore wishes to organize additional strikes in the energy sector. In refineries, stopping installations is not on the agenda, but fuel shipments will be blocked to depots, with the usual watchword: “Nothing goes in, nothing comes out”. At TotalEnergies, the CGT reported Thursday morning that 100% of strikers at the Flanders depot (North), mobilized since Wednesday evening, 80% at the Normandy refinery, 60% at the La Mède bio-refinery (Bouches-du- Rhône), 50% at the Donges refinery (Loire-Atlantique) and 30% at the Grandpuits site (Seine-et-Marne). The tankers are also planning local actions with port infrastructure employees, with whom joint events could be organized. The CGT federation of Ports and Docks has indeed called for a 24-hour strike on Thursday.
Reductions in electricity production
On the power plant side, electricians and gas companies announced production cuts, but also more “positive” actions, such as free or reduced tariffs, to offset the criticisms addressed after the announcement of “targeted cuts” . As of Wednesday, cuts claimed by the CGT have indeed taken place on wind and solar parks in the Montluçon sector. “We do not want (no) blockages which would be penalizing for all French people and we do not accept any threat”, reacted the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt before the Senate, speaking of “offense” more than “ political or militant action”.
Eventually, other actions are planned in other sectors. The CGT-Cheminots and SUD-Rail thus proposed, on Tuesday January 24, a renewable strike “from mid-February” at the SNCF if the government did not withdraw its pension reform project. In a joint leaflet, the organizations, respectively first and third trade union of the railway company, and totaling more than half of the votes in the last professional elections, first called for “two consecutive days of strike on February 7 and 8” then “all the other sectors” to join, in order to “raise the balance of power”. “From the moment the government persists in what causes conflict, there is the possibility of days of action during the school holidays”, had also specified Philippe Martinez, the general secretary of the CGT.