Kick-off for the mobilizations against the pension reform presented by Elisabeth Borne. At school, at the airport, at the hospital… The strikes promise to be massive this Thursday, January 19, 2023, and no sector will be spared. The Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, announced a real “troublesome Thursday”.
In their press release, the trade union organizations denounce a reform which will “hit all workers head-on, and more particularly those who started working early, the most precarious, whose life expectancy is lower. to the rest of the population, and those whose difficult jobs are not recognized. It will aggravate the precariousness of those who are no longer in employment before their retirement, and reinforce gender inequalities”. Thus, the unions are calling for a strong mobilization throughout France.
Among the strike movements announced, a strong mobilization is planned in the refineries. So much so that the first signs of a new shortage of fuel in gas stations are already beginning to point the tip of their nose. The threat of a new lack of gasoline is pushing motorists to fill up as a precaution… A bad idea, according to Olivier Gantois, president of Ufip Energies and Mobilities: “If you are all going to fill up tomorrow morning, we won’t cannot follow”. Transport Minister Clément Beaune also asked motorists fearing shortages not to take excessive precautionary measures by going to withdraw petrol upstream. “Stocks can largely absorb” a first 24-hour strike, but “some motorway stations could close”, also wanted to reassure Eric Sellini, CGT manager at TotalEnergies, with Midi-Libre. In the meantime, in French service stations, prices at the pump are soaring. Diesel sold at an average price of 1.9162 euros per liter, or 3.16 cents more than the previous week, according to figures from the Ministry of Energy Transition stopped Friday and published Monday, January 23.
Yet despite these recommendations, the queues have lengthened in the service stations of Val-d’Oise. This is particularly the case of a motorist who told the Parisian that he did not want to be caught off guard this time. “The last time, I was taken aback, he says. I saw that the refineries were ready to strike again this time, that it could last two weeks or three weeks”. Precautions with serious consequences since this gas station ran out of unleaded 95 and 98 for a few hours on Friday January 13th. Managers must now anticipate the strong demand to come. “Usually, we are restocked three times a week, explains Abdou. There, we asked for it to be five or six times at the beginning of next week, because we risk having a lot of people. We have not yet had a response from our supplier”.
Thursday January 12, 2023, CGT Pétrole launched several pre-work stoppages. Discover all the dates to remember in our slideshow below.