French government to recruit staff to force end to fuel strike

The Prime Minister of France, Élisabeth Borne, has informed that the French Government will recruit personnel to force the end of the strike in the fuel sector announced by the employees of Exxonmobil and TotalEnergies that has been going on for eleven days.

Thus, Borne has announced that he has asked the “prefects” to “requisition essential personnel for the operation of the depots” in the face of a strike that has caused supply cuts since this weekend.

Faced with supply difficulties at service stations, the Ministry of Energy Transition has ordered all “prefects” in at least 24 French departments to ban the sale and purchase of fuel in a canister or jerry can type container.

The strike movement, which affects most of France’s refineries, was renewed Tuesday at TotalEnergies and Esso-ExxonMobil, despite the government’s call to suspend the conflict “without delay.”

The two refineries of Notre Dame de Gravenchon, in the Seine-Maritime department, and Fos sur Mer, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, voted to continue the strike despite the signing of a wage agreement by two majority organizations, Franceinfo reported.

The French government, criticized for the shortages at a third of service stations, called Tuesday, through presidential spokesman Olivier Véran, for the “immediate” release of fuel depots, while threatening to “intervene.”

For the past two weeks, five of the eight French refineries have faced a social movement led by the CGT, which demands a 10 percent wage increase and 3 percent in wealth sharing, as explained by the CGT coordinator at TotalEnergies, Eric Sellini, as reported by ‘Le Figaro’ newspaper.

According to figures presented on Monday by the Minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, one in three stations are having difficulties. In Hauts-de-France, the proportion reaches 48.4 percent.