Walkouts disrupt French public transport, oil refineries

By Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA) - Walkouts jolted all of France on Tuesday with serious disruptions in public transport as well as oil refineries, local media reported.

This is the sixth demonstration against the government's proposed pension reform plan.

Labor unions have called for a nationwide strike while the Senate is still debating the reform plan.

At the national railway company SNCF, 80% of the high-speed trains TGV Inoui and Ouigo were canceled, as well as almost all of the intercity lines, the daily Le Parisien said.

Severe disruptions were also seen in the SNCF Paris region train lines.

Parisian regional transport operator, RATP's only fully operational lines are 1 and 14, which are automated.

The other RATP metro lines are having serious disruptions too, and most of the buses are not functioning in northern Lille city, while not a single tramway is operating in the southern Nice city.

Some students also took action on Tuesday morning. Racine High School students in Paris blocked the building.

TotalEnergies' management on Tuesday morning said that 64% of their refinery workers (190 workers) were on strike, the daily Le Figaro noted.

CGT Union announced that oil refineries have been blocked on this day, adding that fuel transfer to stations has been stopped, according to the same source.

TotalEnergies' management guaranteed consumers that they will not suffer from fuel shortages at the gas stations where stocks are quite high, Le Figaro added.

Hundreds of demonstrations will be organized across the country to protest the reform plan.

French intelligence is expecting between 1.1 million and 1.4 million protesters in 320 demonstrations on Tuesday, according to broadcaster BFMTV.

Paris alone will host up to 90,000 protesters, the same source added.

The plans, which have triggered public outrage as soon as they were mentioned last year, include raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 in 2030 and requiring at least 43 years of work to be eligible for full pensions.