Regional train traffic in the France was halved on Tuesday as several unions called a nationwide strike, seeking to capitalize on anger at one of the highest inflations in decades to expand a weeks-long industrial action at oil refineries to other sectors.
There was also some disruption in schools, as the strike mainly affected the public sector.
Union leaders had hoped workers would be impacted by the government’s decision to force some of them back to work in oil depots to try to refuel, a decision some say jeopardized the right to strike.
But an Elabe poll for BFM TV showed that only 39% of the public supported Tuesday’s call for a national strike, while 49% opposed it, and growing numbers opposed the strike by oil refinery workers.
The refinery workers’ strike has become one of President Emmanuel Macron’s biggest challenges since his re-election in May.
Government spokesman Olivier Veran said the requisition for more refiners could take place during the day, as lines of drivers worried about supply disruptions grow at gas stations.
“There will be as many requisitions as necessary… Blocking refineries, when we reach an agreement on wages, is not a normal situation,” Veran told France 2 TV.
Just under 10% of high school teachers were on strike on Tuesday, with even lower numbers in primary schools, data from the country’s Ministry of Education showed. The call to strike was most noted in vocational schools, where teachers oppose planned reforms.
On the transport front, Eurostar said it was canceling some trains between London and Paris because of the strike.
French public railway operator SNCF said traffic on regional connections had dropped by 50% but that there were no major disruptions to national lines.
As tensions mount in the eurozone’s second-largest economy, strikes have spread to other parts of the energy sector, including nuclear giant EDF EDF.PA, where crucial maintenance work for Europe’s energy supply will be postponed.
A representative of the FNME-CGT union said Tuesday that the strikes are affecting work at nuclear plants, including at the Penly plant.
The strikes are taking place as the government is expected to pass the 2023 budget using special constitutional powers that would allow it to bypass a vote in parliament, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Sunday.
Demonstrations are scheduled across the country, with one in Paris starting in the afternoon.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Paris on Sunday to protest the rise in prices. The leader of the far-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party, Jean-Luc Melenchon, marched alongside this year’s Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Annie Ernaux.
Source: CNN Brasil
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