Paris — Strikes against the French government’s planned pension reform are scheduled for Thursday and Friday at power utility EDF and are expected to affect nuclear and hydropower output, the FNME-CGT union told Reuters on Wednesday.
EDF had earlier posted a warning about a strike starting on Wednesday evening to the end of the day on Thursday on its message board.
“We call for a 48-hour strike … there will certainly be production cuts, perhaps from tonight but probably more tomorrow, in nuclear and hydro in particular, without going so far as to impact users,” FNME-CGT National Secretary Fabrice Coudour said.
Coudour added that strikes disrupting maintenance work at nuclear reactors were being considered and that targeted cuts to power supplies could not be ruled out.
The CGT union had previously announced a 48-hour refining strike from Thursday. A new national strike has also been called for Jan. 31 and a follow-up 72-hour refining strike has been announced for Feb. 8.
TotalEnergies said that its French petrol stations had sufficient stock to cope with the protests.
Reporting by Forrest Crellin and Benjamin Mallet. Editing by Jane Merriman and Sharon Singleton – Reuters
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