France’s biggest labor strikes in decades may soon hit the country’s oil industry. Oil sector workers of France’s General Confederation of Labour (Confédération Générale du Travail - CGT) could decide on Friday whether to shut operations at French refineries to scale up their protest, Reuters reported citing two sources from the union.
France currently has forty two retirement schemes which are considered the world’s most generous. President Emmanuel Macron is pushing toward reform in France’s pension plans, citing a potential $19 billion deficit. Macron proposes a universal scheme for all kinds of jobs. However, this angered labor unions as they argued it could harm workers with low-paying jobs.
Oil sector workers were among those to participate in the strikes, protesting the government’s plan to overhaul the pensions. They have blocked the distribution of refined products from all of Total’s refineries in France but continued the production.
Total SA said its Grandpuits and La Mède refineries were operating at minimum rates and product delivery was blocked due to the strikes. Sources said that employees at Total’s La Mede and Petroineos’ Lavera refinery were prepared to vote for a shutdown on Friday if union leaders decided so.
French oil industry group, Union Française des Industries Pétrolières (UFIP) on Wednesday said about 1.6% of over 11,000 gas stations in the country were partially or completely short of some refined oil products.
