Two of France’s largest trucking unions announced a strike targeting gas stations across the country Monday in hopes to force President Emmanuel Macron to back off his labor reform policies.
Macron’s policies would make it easier for companies to hire and fire employees. The embattled president fought off a wave of strikes last week from the country’s largest trucking union, the CFDT. Drivers blocked roads and highways in Paris and throughout the country. The unions have threatened to escalate if Macron continues to push change. The Stalinist General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and Workers Force (FO) unions announced that their drivers would target gas depots across the country on Sept. 25, Reuters reported. If CFDT chooses to join the protest, it could mean gas shortages for much of the country.
“Today is a warning,” A CFDT spokseman told reporters during last week’s protest. “If they don’t listen to us, CFDT’s truckers won’t stop there.”
The CFDT will likely be forced to make good on their threat as Macron has continued to push for national pension reform. The communist-linked CGT and FO unions hope the CFDT will join them in the Sept. 25 strike as a result. The two smaller unions performed a similar protest in May that left Paris with only one fully-functioning gas depot and triggered reports of fuel shortages across the country. With the possibility of the CFDT joining on Sept. 25, the protest’s potential effect is far greater.
“We don’t intend to wait until the pension reform proposals to act,” Fabrice Angei, a senior CGT official told Reuters. “We need to put an end to the destruction of our social model.”
The president and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe have no plans to stop their reforms. The pair has said they’ve only announced the first stage of reforms, and they expect the second stage to face even larger backlash.
“This second phase is going to take longer than the current one,” Philippe said, according the The New York Times. “Behind these reforms isn’t only the desire to relaunch the economy. It’s about our collective ability to be a country that acts decisively.”
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