Streets fill in support of French strike
PARIS — Tens of thousands of French workers took to the streets on Tuesday across the country, striking for pay hikes that keep up with rising inflation. The industrial action came after weeks of walkouts that have hobbled French oil refineries and sparked gasoline shortages around the country.
"It's time to go back to work," French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Tuesday of the people on strike at the French refineries of oil giant TotalEnergies.
Rail, trucking, bus and other transportation workers, some high school teachers and public hospital employees have heeded a call by an oil workers' union to push for salary increases and protest government intervention in the refinery strikes.
The Interior Ministry said over 100,000 people marched on Tuesday in multiple protests in French cities. Thousands also took to the streets on Sunday to march against rising prices.
"We are demanding an increase in salaries everywhere. In all jobs, in all professions, because we now find ourselves with employees who are underpaid in relation to the cost of living," said 70-year-old retiree Bernard Mirc, who participated in the Paris protest.
Meanwhile, just 1 in 2 trains were running on Tuesday in the southern region rail network, causing delays during morning rush hour. There were also reports of disruptions on high-speed trains in the north, as well as on the Eurostar and intercity trains linking France with Spain.
Similar protests have erupted around Europe in recent months over the impact of inflation, causing disruptions like canceled flights and trains. Thousands protested in Prague twice last month partly due to high energy prices, airline workers have gone on strike in Germany and Sweden to demand higher pay, and everyone from nurses to rail employees in the United Kingdom have walked off the job to demand that their wages keep pace with inflation.
Tuesday's protests in France come after the left-wing CGT union rejected a deal over a pay increase that TotalEnergies struck with two other unions on Friday.
Strikers demanded higher wages from the windfall profits of energy companies that have seen high oil and gas prices amid the energy crisis.
Agencies via Xinhua
