- Title: FRANCE/FILE: Week of industrial chaos looms in France
- Date: 18th October 2010
- Summary: MONTREUIL, FRANCE (OCTOBER 17, 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIORS OF CGT TRADES UNION HEADQUARTERS WITH BANNER CALLING FOR PENSION REFORMS TO BE SUSPENDED VARIOUS RAIL WORKERS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) LEADER OF RAIL WORKERS SECTION OF CGT UNION, DIDIER LE RESTE, SAYING: "The start of the week will see a widening of the strike with more sustained action in sectors
- Embargoed: 2nd November 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA3V20FHR496DRHXVNRYZG8GEKZ
- Story Text: France looked set on Sunday (October 17) for a week of full-scale industrial mayhem with motorists rushing for petrol pumps that were running increasingly dry, train workers calling for a toughening of nationwide strikes against pension reform and French truckers promising to clog the roads from the early hours of Monday (October 18) morning.
At a news conference at the headquarters of the giant CGT union, rail workers listed the numbers of occupations that had come out in support of the protests against reforms the French government says are essential to keep one of Europe's most generous pension systems fully funded.
"The start of the week will see a widening of the strike with more sustained action in sectors such as road transport, energy, posts, telecommunications and metallurgy, public service and commerce. A new strike call has been made in the Paris transit authority from October 19. Eurotunnel workers are called for a strike from October 19," Didier Le Reste, head of the rail workers federation at the CGT union told reporters.
Not far from where he was speaking, Parisians were making a last ditch attempt to get hold of what fuel remained, ignoring government calls to refrain from panic buying.
"There's a shortage of fuel. There's no petrol anywhere. There wasn't any in my neighbourhood, so I was obliged to come here to Montreuil to fill my car up. And I'm bang on the limit," said one desperate driver who had lined up for nearly an hour to get hold of fuel.
No accurate figure exists for how many petrol stations were completely or partially sold out, but several French media outlets said the number ran into the hundreds, with Paris, the west, and the south particularly hit.
At the fuel depots, padlocks remained firmly on the gates as pickets received baguettes delivered to them on the picket lines.
"We're blocking the depots to fight against this reform which for us is a real social regression," said Julien Autechaud, a shop steward at a fuel depot near Marseille.
In the bay of Marseilles, oil tankers lined up, victims of the closure of the city's petroleum ports by a dockers' strike in protest at the plans which include a rise of two years in the retirement age to 62.
But most worrying of all is the threat posed by the country's militant truckers. One of their leaders, Maxime Dumont, said that they were about to jump into the industrial fray by organising a series of wildcat blockages, which could hit commuter traffic or target key distribution points around the country.
The action will severely raise the pressure on the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy, only two days before parliament gives its final vote on the controversial legislation, brining it into law and making it irreversible. But whether he's willing to put up with the pressure of the streets remains to be seen. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None