After three weeks of blockades at oil refineries that caused filling stations across France to run dry, the government resorted to a little used emergency power to force striking workers back to their posts. While this is easing the situation at petrol stations, now unions have called for a ‘national strike day’ in protest against the use of this power, and as part of a general battle for pay increases.

The hardline CGT union has called for a day of action on Tuesday, October 18th and other unions including FO, Sud-Rail, Solidaires and FSU have called on their members to support this.

At present the only confirmed strike action is among rail workers – CGT Cheminots, CGT-RATP and Sud-Rail members will walk out on Tuesday, leading to possible disruption on national railways and the Paris public transport system.

The CGT says that truck drivers will also join in the action. So far, there are no details on specific action in other sectors.

French daily Le Parisien cited a report from the intelligence services warning of a risk of “contagion” as other sectors join the strike. 

Among the sectors cited, it highlights the possibility of rallies among “dockers, port agents, railway workers or agents of nuclear power plants and the automotive sector”.

Nuclear

Meanwhile employees at France’s nuclear power plants are already on strike, demanding a five percent increase in their salaries. However those on strike are not those who operate the nuclear plants, the strikes concern maintenance workers at some of the French nuclear plants which are closed because of works required to address corrosion problems.

Strike action had already been affecting other plants such as Cruas in Ardèche, Cattenom in Moselle, Tricastin in Drôme and Golfech in Tarn-et-Garonne. 

How will these strikes impact consumers?

Unlike fuel refineries, the impact of strikes in nuclear power plants would remain relatively invisible for consumers for the time being. However, EDF is concerned about energy availability later in the winter, particularly to avoid localised power outages if the electrical grid is under strain.

You can listen to the team at The Local France and politics expert John Lichfield discuss whether there will be strikes and protests this winter in our latest podcast episode. Download here or listen below.

READ ALSO Is France likely to face blackouts this winter?

These strikes would “affect certain maintenance work,” energy provider EDF explained to AFP. For example, strike action began at the Gravelines plant on Thursday, just before maintenance work on reactor 4 was due to start on Friday, October 14th.

Franck Redondo, a representative from the Force Ouvrière union, explained how delays in maintenance work could have ripple effects.

“Each day without starting this maintenance work delays the restart of the reactor 4, which was scheduled for the period between Christmas and New Year,” Redondo told Franceinfo. 

Redondo added that such a delay would not affect individuals, but would lead to “cuts” in businesses.

The French government said on Wednesday that it was following the situation at nuclear power plants “very closely.”

According to government spokesperson Olivier Véran; “The social dialogue [at power plants] is good. We are not in the same situation as we are with fuel.”

October 18th

The train drivers’ strike is, for the moment, only a one-day action. The union says the action will concern both SNCF and the Paris transport operator RATP – although the CGT represents only a minority of train drivers, so the single movement is unlikely to cause much disruption unless other unions join in. 

Although other unions have indicated support, so far there are no details of specific actions.

You can find all the latest updates in our strike section