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French protests intensify, government stands firm
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French protests intensify, government stands firm
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By Brian Love
PARIS |
Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:34am EDT
PARIS (Reuters) - French truck drivers staged go-slow operations on highways, rail strikes intensified and petrol stations ran out of fuel on Monday as protests gathered pace ahead of a Senate vote on an unpopular pension overhaul.
The government, which has stood firm on President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age through months of protests, assured the public infrastructure would not freeze up despite a week-long strike at refineries that dried up supplies at hundreds of the roughly 12,500 petrol stations nationwide.
"The situation is critical," a spokeswoman at Exxon Mobil said. "Anyone looking for diesel in the Paris and Nantes (Western France) regions will have problems," she said.
Strike action was ramping up ahead of a nationwide march on Tuesday and with a final Senate vote on the pension bill set for Wednesday it was looking like a make-or-break week for Sarkozy.
Workers at France's 12 refineries were in their seventh day of a strike on Monday and protesters were blocking access many fuel distribution depots around the country.
The UFIP oil industry lobby has said France could see serious fuel supply problems by mid-week, meaning the government may have to tap emergency reserves. The DGAC aviation authority urged airlines to reduce flights to Paris's Orly airport by 50 percent and to all other airports by 30 percent on Tuesday.
The CGT union said it was calling on workers to protest at airports nationwide on Wednesday as well. The union, the largest at Air France, said the protests would not necessarily involve blocking airport access but that it was an option.
Tuesday will be the sixth day of major weekday protests and work stoppages called by national labor union confederations since June but the unrest has intensified since last week when unions at railways and refineries began open-ended industrial action, joined now by truck drivers and delivery workers.
GOVERNMENT REASSURES, FUEL STATIONS DISRUPTED
Government ministers stressed the country had plenty of fuel and that airports in particular have ample supply.
"The government is in control," Industry Minister Christian Estrosi told RTL radio. "There will be no blockade for companies, no blockade for transport and no blockade for road users."
France's supermarket chains account for about 60 percent of car fuel sales and an industry association representing the bulk of those outlets said between 500 and 1,000 stations were either empty, out of one fuel or other, or seeking fresh supplies.
At an empty service station on Paris' Champs Elysees avenue, manager Paula said she spent much of Monday morning trying to stop motorists unhooking the fuel pumps.
"It's madness, we're submerged," she said.
The International Energy Agency, which overlooks strategic oil supplies in OECD countries, said France had some 98 days of fuel stocks between industry reserves and government reserves and that the country had started to tap the industry stocks.
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See All Comments (1) | Post Comment
Oct 18, 2010 7:02am EDT
Fire them…start hiring NON-UNION workers..setup military to protect those hired..force meets force…this is national security …. SHUT THESE CLOWNS DOWN…
rgw
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