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French energy workers went on strike Thursday in power plants, refineries, ports and docks before a new day of mobilization against pension reform on January 31. At the same time, so-called “Robin Hood” actions have been carried out throughout the country, with the placement of “free electricity or gas” in schools, public housing and hospitals.
Warm-up lap before January 31: employees in the energy sector mobilized on Thursday January 26 in power stations, refineries, ports and docks against the pension reform, with “Robin Hood” actions carried out in parallel to the strike.
The movement will be partly extended on Friday at the call of the CGT Federation of Mines and Energy, on strike renewable since January 19 and which had called for 48 hours of mobilization. Scheduled to also last two days in the refineries, it was however suspended Thursday evening on the TotalEnergies sites, Benjamin Tange, CGT central delegate, told AFP.
The objective: to preserve itself, and to prepare the ground for the national strike on Tuesday. At the call of all the unions, it will affect all sectors: schools, civil servants, transport, services… One of them, the UNSA, has identified more than 200 meeting places, as much as for the day of January 19.
At the same time, energy agents have carried out a number of so-called “Robin Hood” actions, according to the CGT, to “intensify the balance of power” in the fight against pension reform. From Lille to Marseille and everywhere in France, they have “placed free electricity or gas” schools, HLM and hospitals, granted reduced rates to small businesses, and restored power for users who had been deprived of it.
Stopped Ports
“In a coordinated manner throughout the territory, this is undoubtedly a first”, indicated to AFP Fabrice Coudour, federal secretary of the CGT Federation of Mines and Energy, warning that “it is only the beginning” of this type of action.
The National Federation of Ports and Docks of the CGT also reported in a press release a “strong mobilization of workers in almost all French ports, with often 100% of strikers and ports completely stopped”.
“The will of today’s action is to show that the balance of power goes up a notch, and that if we wish, we can go as far as the paralysis of the country”, underlined Gwenaël Plagne, CGT union representative at the Cordemais plant (Loire-Atlantique).
EDF said it had lost up to 1,700 MW of power on its hydraulic park, the equivalent of more than one nuclear reactor, before a return to normal in the afternoon. The company did not wish to communicate figures on the extent of the mobilization. The manager of high and very high voltage lines RTE confirmed to AFP that “drops took place this afternoon, but without affecting the security of electricity supply”.
Emmanuel Macron’s reform, which all the unions oppose and which will arrive in Parliament on Monday, would lead to the abolition of special regimes at EDF or Engie (ex-GDF Suez).
The mayor (PS) of Paris Anne Hidalgo announced Thursday that she joined the call launched by the boss of the PCF, Fabien Roussel, to symbolically close the town halls on January 31, in solidarity with the mobilization against the pension reform.
With AFP