(Sharecast News) - France's CGT trade union on Thursday called for strikes in the refinery sector over plans to raise the state retirement age, while unions representing Paris metro workers said they would also take action.


France President Emanuel Macron wants to increase the retirement age by two years to 64. All unions have already announced a nationwide day of strike and protests for January 19, but have also warned that more action will follow in different sectors.

The CGT called on refinery workers and other staff in the petrol sector to strike on January 26 for 48 hours and on February 6 for 72 hours, at which date they said the strike could be further extended and include halting operations at refineries.

"One day will not be enough to make the government back down on this reform," Eric Sellini, CGT coordinator at TotalEnergies, told BFM TV.

"If the conflict were to last, there would inevitably be consequences for refining operations, with potentially a stoppage of the installations in the weeks to come."

Last autumn, a strike at the refineries and depots of TotalEnergies and Exxon linked to wage demands led to a shortage of gasoline for several weeks in several regions.

Macron tried to implement a similar reform in 2019 during his first term of office, which only started weeks of protests and public sector strikes before he threw in the towel when the Covid pandemic struck the following year.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com

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