Alexandre Chauveau, edited by Juliette Moreau Alvarez
modified to
9:17 a.m., October 14, 2022
The refinery strike movement continues to grow in France and is destabilizing the government, which fears that the revival of yellow vests will appear this fall. The opposition is seizing on this crisis. On the left, the anger of the strikers is exploited. On the right, we criticize the bad management of the executive.
The fuel shortage continues in France. If the strike movement continues at Total, it is also growing elsewhere and an intelligence note raises fears of a contagion phenomenon. While the negotiations between the management and the unions are flat, the CGT also calls on the SNCF and the RATP to strike on Tuesday. The movement also affects truck drivers as well as certain EDF employees in nuclear power plants.
Towards a movement of yellow vests 2.0?
Today, the movement is spreading and making the political situation explosive, to the point that the executive fears the birth of a large-scale movement like that of the Yellow Vests four years ago. Anger is also opportunely exploited by the oppositions. Mathilde Panot Wednesday in an Exxon refinery, François Ruffin Thursday on a platform of the Total group: La France insoumise displays its solidarity with the strikers and demands “the requisition of superprofits”.
“The government is too late”
An obviously political response to the requisition of fuel depot staff announced Tuesday by Elisabeth Borne. The Prime Minister is also accused of having fallen behind in the management of the situation, in particular by Les Républicains. “The government has taken too long,” said Bruno Retailleau, president of the LR group in the Senate. “We were the first, moreover, to mention the requisition. Simply, he allowed a movement to encyst in the country which now escapes him.”
A criticism that divides even within the government, shared between supporters of the strong method and defenders of social dialogue. If the requisitions should show their results in the coming days, they also help to strengthen the mobilization of the strikers. It is in this tense social climate that the government is preparing to use, from the beginning of next week, 49.3 in the National Assembly.