Total Energies workers strike against pension reforms

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
26 Jan 22:53

Workers from all across the country joined the demonstrations against the pension reform bill drafted by Borne's government.

Protestors hold a banner that reads retirement is at 60 during a demonstration in Nice, France, September 29, 2022 (Reuters)

French media reported that on Thursday, employees at the oil refineries of Total Energies took into themselves the country's trade unions and continued a string of strikes in opposition to the controversial pension reform proposed by the government.

Echos newspaper reported that workers from different sectors all across the country were mobilized to partake in the demonstrations.

They added that about 80% of employees at France's largest oil refinery in Normandy, 60% of staff at the bioprocessing factory La Mede in Chateauneuf-les-Martigues, and 50% of employees at a refinery in Donges partook in the strikes.

Furthermore, 30% of the staff of a fuel storage facility around Paris and a solid 100% of the staff of another fuel storage facility in northern France supported the national demonstration. According to Total Energies, there wouldn't be a gasoline shortage because gas stations had enough supplies to stay operating.

Following the call of the trade unions, workers at some nuclear power plants, ports, and docks joined the strikes. Due to this, a decrease in electricity production is anticipated for Thursday and Friday. However, the newspaper assured that there won't be any power outages.

Earlier in January Elisabeth Borne, the French prime minister, revealed a draft of the contentious pension reform that her government intends to implement in 2023. The draft states that starting September 1 the French government will gradually raise the retirement age in the nation by three months per year: resulting in an eventual retirement age of 64 by 2030.

The country-wide strikes against the pension reform were announced by France's top unions to begin on January 19. Last Thursday, more than 200 protests broke out across the country, with the biggest ones occurring in Paris, Marseilles, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, and Nantes. Approximately 1.12 million people eventually joined the protest, with 80,000 of them reportedly in Paris alone.

Last week eight trade unions announced another nationwide protest against the draft pension starting January 31.