Employees of road transport of hazardous materials (fuel, gas, chemicals …) begin their sixth day of strike for better recognition of the profession. Wednesday morning, more than 800 petrol stations were affected by the move, including 429 in total shortage.
Truck drivers transporting hazardous materials (fuels, gas …) were beginning Wednesday in the Ile de France and in the Rouen region their sixth day of strike in the “waiting for a significant sign of the authorities”, said the CGT.
In Ile-de-France, strikers have constructed “filter dams” at the entrance of the ten oil depots to inform trucks traveling of the movement to “continue to put pressure on the employers ‘organizations’, said Fabrice Michaud, spokesman for the federation.
Police confirmed that there was “filtering” at the port of Gennevilliers and Nanterre but “no blocking”. It is the same in Grand-Quevilly, near Rouen, and Fos-sur-Mer, near Marseille. “Leaflets are distributed to drivers, but there is no blockage”, according to Fabrice Michaud.
According to the federation, the strike was observed by a large majority of the drivers that challenge many business organizations.
429 stations in total shortage
The application mon-essence.fr, elaborated from the information reported by subscribers, at midday on Wednesday about 850 stations are affected with fuel shortages in France, including 458 without fuel. Numbers are increasing. The application had on Tuesday at 6.30pm about 630 affected stations, including 252 without fuel.
There are 11,000 stations in France, including 1000 in Paris. A source from the CGT port of Gennevilliers (Hauts-de-Seine), “400 stations are out of fuel and almost 500 in partial failure, mainly diesel” .
The French Union of Petroleum Industry (UFIP) mentions it, always “a hundred” stations out in Ile-de-France out of 600 stations (excluding retail and independent), representing more than half of the outlets.
The strikers are demanding the opening of negotiations
The strike launched on Friday in the weekend of the Ascension by the CGT is to push employers (FNTR, TLF, UR) to “negotiate” the inclusion in the agreement of the road transport “specificities” specific to hazardous materials. It callsare for daily hours of work set to a maximum of 10 hours, a special semi-annual medical monitoring, a minimum hourly rate of € 14 per hour and a thirteenth month.
“Our goal is to have a significant sign of the authorities to see the follow-up to the movement. It also hopes to convince other unions to come to the negotiating table, “ said Mr. Michaud.
The CGT-transport demanded on Tuesday in a statement “to employers’ organizations and the government to take responsibility for creating the conditions for opening rapid negotiations” in order to recognize “the technicalities of the driver’s profession of hazardous materials” .
“These claims are supported by only one union, the CGT and no negotiations are possible with one union”, said two employers’ federations (FNTR and TLF) on Monday.
The CGT and the French Union of Petroleum Industry (UFIP) disagree on the impact of the movement on the supply of fuel at service stations.
