French strikes normally mostly affect public transport, but the latest strikes could also impact drivers, with actions planned including rolling roadblocks, roundabout protests and blockades of oil refineries to prevent fuel from reaching filling stations.
Strike action in France recommences after a short break on Tuesday, March 7th when public transport such as trains and the Paris Metro will be severely disrupted – find full details here.
But unlike previous pension strike actions in 2023, this one is also set to affect people travelling by road, as the truckers (drivers including truckers) join in, with some actions beginning on Monday, March 6th.
“The unions are calling for France to be brought to a standstill, and we are going to do our bit”, said Patrick Blaisegeneral secretary of the CFDT Route union, which represents drivers.
While rail and city transport operators are able to give very precise details of disruption, things are less clear for drivers because demonstrators don’t usually announce full details of their actions in advance. However, here’s what we know;
Fuel blockades – oil refinery workers belonging to the militant CGT union walked out on Monday, and are also holding blockades at refineries to prevent fuel getting out to filling stations. Their action is an ongoing one, so will continue through the week. The major effect of this for drivers is likely to be impending fuel shortages, as supplies of petrol/gasoline and diesel can no longer reach filling stations.
However, it normally takes at least a week for filling stations around France to begin experiencing shortages once a blockade has started, and French media report that filling stations are currently well stocked, so there is no need to panic buy.
City blockades – truckers say they intend to carry out blockades on the outskirts of major French cities from Monday morning, especially targeting industrial estates and warehouses in the Paris and Hauts-de-France region. This could have a knock-on effect on deliveries and therefore stocks in shops including supermarkets as the week goes on.
Border blockades – drivers say they also intend to block some entrance roads to cities and border crossing points, although they have not specified which ones.
Rolling roadblocks – drivers are also planning to carry out snail operations – rolling roadblocks – on the outskirts of big cities including Paris, Bordeaux and Toulouse and on some of the country’s highways. These roadblocks, involving several vehicles travelling very slowly abreast along the road are intended to create long traffic jams.
toll protests – the CGT and CFDT unions say they are planning on “blocking a TOLL [toll booth on the autoroute]”, although they have not said which one will be targeted.
Roundabout protests – in a tactic borrowed from the ‘yellow vests’, protesters are also intending to hold roundabout protests, which are intended to slow traffic, especially on the entry to smaller towns. These decisions are taken on a local level, so will affect some areas more than others.
On March 7, on the roundabouts of the Somme, it blocks! This is the decision taken by the inter-union of 80. In Abbeville, a crossroads will even be held by craftsmen-traders. I’ll be there at 4am. And I’m counting on you to bring the croissants to Amiens or Doullens! pic.twitter.com/rHgQ7wOYPH
— François Ruffin (@Francois_Ruffin) March 3, 2023
Support – this will mark the first time that routiers have joined the pension protests, and it is difficult to say what level of support the actions will see, as many truckers are either self-employed or work for small companies which can make taking strike action more difficult.
The main hauliers’ unions are concentrating on two-day actions on Tuesday, March 7th and Wednesday, March 8th, although some unions are also taking actions on Monday and are urging their members to continue after Wednesday.
The oil refinery workers, who are employees and who have a reputation for militancy, are likely to continue their blockades for longer.