French workers threatened to shut down the country’s nuclear power stations on Wednesday as it emerged that the state has been forced to delve into emergency petrol reserves for the past two days. As the standoff continued between hardline unions and the ruling Socialists over a controversial labour reform, the majority of French blame the government for the tense standoff and will hold it accountable if the upcoming Euro 2016 football tournament “is a mess”, a poll suggested on Wednesday. On Wednesday, the energy arm of the CGT, voted to bring the Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear plant southeast of Paris to “a complete halt” for 24 hours starting at 8pm, while workers at other nuclear plants are due to meet to decide on possible further strikes. France’s 58 nuclear reactors across 19 sites generates almost 75 per cent of its electricity.
Telegraph 25th May 2016 read more »
Workers with the country’s most powerful union, the leftist CGT, are blocking six of France’s eight oil refineries, some of its fuel depots, and plan to shut down or lower output in at least six of its nuclear power plants in a bid have a new labour law scrapped.
Telegraph 25th May 2016 read more »
Riot police have used water cannon to break up a fuel depot blockade in northern France as the hardline CGT trade union called for strikes at nuclear plants amid a worsening standoff over the government’s proposed labour reforms. Workers at the country’s nuclear plants – the source of the majority of France’s electricity – are also meeting to decide whether strike on Thursday as part of a national day of street protests against the labour reforms. It was not clear what consequences strikes at nuclear plants would have on electricity supplies, but experts said there would not be blackouts.
Guardian 25th May 2016 read more »