TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Friday slammed France’s double standards in dealing with the energy sector workers’ strikes, in a veiled reference to French President Emmanuel Macron’s expression of support for rioters in Iran.
Macron on Wednesday condemned Iran’s dealing with the recent riots across the country, which erupted after the controversial death of a young Iranian woman, saying, “We stand alongside these women. It’s a sovereign people fighting for their freedom.”
Speaking with IRNA, Kanaani said derided France’s double standards. “Worker strikes in the French oil and gas sector and the threat of French authorities to resort to force to end the strikes deserve media coverage,” he said.
The leading French trade union, General Confederation of Labour (CGT), which represents labor forces at TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil’s Esso France, was quoted as saying on Monday that the strikes at the companies’ oil refineries and storage sites will continue.
French officials warned on Tuesday that they would be forced to intervene if the country’s energy sector workers did not immediately end their strike. Having previously threatened to use emergency powers to order essential workers back to the job on pain of fines or jail time, the government announced Wednesday it was putting them into action.
The industrial action to demand pay hikes has paralyzed six out of the seven fuel refineries in France, leading to shortages of petrol and diesel aggravated by panic-buying from drivers.
Workers at a fuel depot at a refinery in northwest France, owned by U.S. giant Esso-ExxonMobil, will be the first to be
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targeted, an energy ministry official told AFP.
The strikes have added pressure on Macron whose government is already facing discontent among the public over inflation and higher cost of living.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Paris on Sunday to protest soaring inflation and high cost of living, demanding that France pull out completely from membership in the US-led NATO military alliance.
The strike over pay, now in its third week, has led to the closure of an estimated 30 percent of service stations nationwide.