French Oil Strike Rages On As Shortages Worsen
Gas Pumps that are Out of Order Due to the Shortage. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo
Strikes by fuel refinery workers in France are leaving the country in turmoil, with motorists in every part of the country struggling to get gas for their vehicles. The strike first began on Sept. 20, 2022, when workers at the ExxonMobil refinery went on strike. The labor shortages were then exacerbated when TotalEnergies workers joined the strike on Sept. 26, 2022. The French government ordered workers to begin work again, yet the labor unions leading the strike decided to extend them as recently as Oct. 12, 2022, as their conditions have not been met. With an energy crisis already affecting the continent, this strike could not have come at a worse time.
The reasoning behind the strike is that workers claim that they can no longer afford the cost of living in France due to rising inflation that their wages have not compensated for. As a result, workers are asking the refinery companies, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies, to give them a 10% rise in pay. The strike is further fueled by actions of President Macron, who recently proposed a bill to raise the age a worker can start to receive their pension from the current age of 62, to either the age of 64 or 65. This is a move that left-leaning government officials and labor movements alike are trying to fight.
Progress seems possible, as ExxonMobil has brokered a deal with two of the leading labor unions. However, the standstill continues as the third one, the Confédération Générale du Travail CGT Union, has rejected the deal. The CGT Union is the largest union in France, so the fact that they rejected the deal means that the country is still very much in trouble. Furthermore, the refinery companies are refusing to adjust to inflation according to the 2022 cost of living, and would like to just look forward to the 2023 income adjustments. Labor unions have rejected this proposal, as it would mean waiting an entire year to have their income adjusted, which seems unrealistic given the historical increases in inflation and costs.
Cars Waiting in Line to Purchase Gas. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
The government and refinery workers are not the only people impacted by this dispute. Since the refineries are shut down, there has been a shortage of fuel being delivered to gas stations. As a result, one-third of the petrol stations throughout the country are completely out of at least one kind of fuel. To make matters worse, this is the maintenance season in the fuel refineries, so that work is not being done and less gas is being produced. Tereos, one of France’s largest sugar manufacturers and distributors, says that they have had to delay shipments of sugar because they cannot access the diesel needed to fuel their trucks. Additionally, in the region of Hauts-de-France, gas prices have gone up, and the sale of fuel in containers has been banned to limit panic buying .
The crisis has forced the French government to reach into its fuel reserve since Oct. 5, 2022. The French government has said that they will be able to continue to deliver gas from other places, such as other countries and their reserves, until a compromise is reached, and that the French people will not feel the effects of it. However, they may be too late, as much of the general population has dealt with long lines to refuel, and many cannot access or afford fuel at all. The government stated that they have enough oil reserves to last the country about three months, but with no sign of compromise on either side, the future remains uncertain.