PARIS (Dispatches) - Workers striking in protest against proposed changes to France’s pension system has continued to block fuel deliveries and reduce electricity production at several sites.
Power supply was reduced by 8.2 gigawatts (GW), or 13% of overall production, across some of the country’s nuclear, thermal and hydropower sites due to the strike, EDF data showed.
France is not currently importing electricity, data from grid operator RTE showed, suggesting domestic supply is meeting demand.
TotalEnergies said there were again no fuel deliveries from its French refineries due to the strike.
There were also no deliveries from ExxonMobil unit Esso’s Fos-sur-Mer refinery in southern France, although operations had returned to normal at Port Jerome in the northwest, a union representative told Reuters.
About 7% of French refuelling stations lacked at least one product as of Wednesday, but “there is no supply problem for service stations and the situation is improving”, said OlivierGantois, president of the French Union for Petroleum, Energy and Mobility Industries UFIP.
Meanwhile, garbage piled up in Paris streets and fuel deliveries were blocked from refineries as workers continued rolling strikes against pension reform but President Emmanuel Macron refused to meet with unions and said the reform must go ahead.
So far the impact has not been major, as cold weather has prevented the garbage in Paris and other cities from stinking, while there are no lines at gas stations yet as motorists and fuel station operators anticipated disruptions.
In a letter to unions, Macron refused to agree to their request for a meeting, saying that unions had had ample time to negotiate with the government over the past months and that now was the time for parliament to review the reform, whose key measure is a two-year extension of the retirement age to 64.
Ans also a nationwide strike by Belgium’s public sector, was slowing rush-hour traffic and affecting everything from garbage collection to childcare.
Trade unions are protesting investment and employment cuts and demand that pension reforms be cut back.
“Not a single department escaped the cuts imposed by several governments. That’s why we sound the alarm bell. Because everyone should have a strong public sector,” the ACOD union said.
Train service was paralyzed in large parts of the nations and buses and subways were running on a limited timetable in and around Brussels.