Workers Of France's TotalEnergies Protesting Against Pension Reform - Reports

Workers of France's TotalEnergies Protesting Against Pension Reform - Reports

Workers at oil refineries of French energy giant TotalEnergies heeded the call from France's trade unions on Thursday and continued a series of strikes in protest against the government's controversial pension reform, French media reported

PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2023) Workers at oil refineries of French energy giant TotalEnergies heeded the call from France's trade unions on Thursday and continued a series of strikes in protest against the government's controversial pension reform, French media reported.

The ongoing demonstration was also joined by employees of many other industries across the country, the Echos newspaper reported.

About 80% of workers at France's largest oil refinery in Normandy, 60% of employees at the bioprocessing factory La Mede in the commune of Chateauneuf-les-Martigues, as well as half of staff of a refinery in the commune of Donges joined the strikes, the media outlet added.

Besides, all the employees of a fuel storage in northern France and 30% of workers at another storage facility near Paris also supported the nationwide protest. TotalEnergies reportedly said that there would be no shortage of gasoline since gas stations had sufficient reserves to continue their operation.

Moreover, employees of some nuclear power plants, ports and docks joined the strikes following the trade unions' call. Due to this fact, a fall is expected in electricity production on Thursday and Friday, but this will not lead to power outages, the newspaper reported.

Earlier in January, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne unveiled a draft of the controversial pension reform that the government plans to adopt in 2023. According to the draft, the French authorities will gradually raise the retirement age in the country by three months a year from September 1, 2023. By 2030, the retirement age will reach 64 years.

France's leading trade unions announced nationwide strikes against the pension reform from January 19. Over 200 demonstrations were held across the country last Thursday, with the largest protests taking place in Paris, Marseilles, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille and Nantes. The demonstration was then joined by nearly 1.12 million people, with 80,000 of them reportedly in Paris alone.

Last week, eight leading French trade unions also announced a second nationwide protest against the draft pension reform starting from January 31.