The energy branch of the union, fiercely opposed to the pension reform, multiplies the threats of targeted power cuts. She performed in Marseille on Monday.
“completely illegal“, but “completely moral“. Marseille’s CGT Energy switched Marseille bakeries to the reduced electricity rate on Monday for a few hours, more than halving electricity bills. A way for trade unionists to support the bakers who demonstrated Monday against the price increase, but also to remind anyone who wants to listen that they are the ones who hold the controls. The secretary general of the CGT Énergie in Marseille, Renaud Thierry, defended on RMC an action “completely moral“, although “completely illegal“.
The illegal nature of the maneuver was hammered home by the government on Tuesday morning. “It is not the CGT which decides in France, it is not the CGT which decides on the tariffs, it is not the CGT which decides who has to pay what. It’s the state, it’s the general interest, it’s the French people through their representatives.rebuked the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire on Europe 1, who judged these cuts “unacceptable“. A term also used by Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for Energy Transition.
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“It’s bullying“, she lamented on BFMTV / RMC, emphasizing the dangerous nature that targeted cuts can take on. “If we stop, for example, certain industrial operations, you can break the production tool and you can put employees on the floor“, continued Agnès Pannier-Runacher. Since the beginning of the opposition movement to the pension reform, the energy unions have multiplied the threats of targeted cuts. They targeted pell-mell the elected officials who support the reform, the billionaires or, more recently, the buildings they consider “non-essential“.
The employers of its threatening employees – EDF, Engie, RTE or Enedis – strongly condemn these so-called “Robin Hood», while specifying that they respect the right to strike. The Enedis network manager even announced that he would file a complaint “systematically» in the event of targeted cuts. The society strongly condemns any malicious act on the public electricity distribution network that may lead to power cuts for its customers, and jeopardize the safety of property and people. These actions do not correspond to the public service missions to which Enedis employees are very attached“.
Enedis’ approach is encouraged by the executive, which calls on the companies concerned to file a complaint against those responsible for the targeted cuts when they are victims. “It will be the arrested companies that will file a complaint, it is up to them to do so (…)“, suggested Agnès Pannier-Runacher, “and we, in our role, will uphold the law“.
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