Minister hits out at ‘scandalous’ action targeting Orly airport and thousands of homes and businesses

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

In a change of tactics in the bitter dispute over pension reform in France, hardline union leaders have cut power supplies and plunged tens of thousands of people into darkness.

On Tuesday, just 24 hours after public transport drivers returned to work after six weeks of strikes and disruption, militant union federations showed their determination to continue their battle to force the government to back down over its proposed law.

French energy workers cut electricity supplies to a swathe of the suburbs south of Paris, including to Orly airport and the city’s fresh food market. Between 30,000 and 35,000 people were reported to have been affected.

Members of the hardline CGT union’s branches said the action was targeted to “have an impact on the economy and above all make ourselves heard”.

Franck Jouanno, a CGT-Énergie representative, told French media: “It’s not the end of the world to have a power cut. In general it doesn’t last more than a morning.”

Orly, which has its own generators, was unaffected by the early morning power outages, but the airport’s Orlyval automated train network was hit. A spokesperson for Rungis international market said emergency power kicked in when the power outage began and there was no disruption to trade.

Energy company Enedis said it would be taking legal action over what it called “an act of spite”. Julien Denormandie, a city and housing minister, described the action as “scandalous and irresponsible”.

“Can you imagine, not only the inconvenience, but that people were put at risk? It’s scandalous, it’s irresponsible and it destroys dialogue [between parties],” Denormandie told BFMTV.

The power cuts affected several suburban towns from around 6am. Sébastien Menesplier, a CGT representative, said there were 30,000 workers on strike in the energy sector and the aim was to “take the mobilisation up a notch”.

CGT members also briefly cut electricity supplies at the Paris headquarters of the moderate CFDT, France’s biggest union, which has voted to halt strikes and protests after the government made concessions in the pension reforms. Its decision has infuriated members of the CGT who want proposed changes to pensions entirely withdrawn and has pledged to continue industrial action.

CGT militants forced their way into the CFTD offices on Friday, where they were accused of “verbally and physically attacking” union staff.

CGT-Énergie admitted it was responsible for the power cuts. Union officials said they had cut the electricity to the Rungis, the wholesale fresh food market, and to Orly airport, plunging them “into darkness” for between 90 minutes and two hours.

“Right now all we’re hearing about in the media are the actions of the RATP [Paris transport company] and SNCF [national rail network],” Jouanno said.

Prime minister Édouard Philippe told the Assemblée Nationale the sudden power cuts were not compatible with “democracy or the law” and criticised the hit-and-run attacks on the CFDT headquarters, which he said was a “private place” . “All of this must be punished because it is not acceptable,” Philippe said.

Most striking public transport staff who had been engaged in six weeks of protests and industrial action since early December – against plans by Emmanuel Macron’s centrist government to create a single points-based national pension scheme to replace the 42 existing schemes – returned to work on Monday.

The industrial action brought the French capital to a standstill and disrupted train and other public services in the rest of France. Other public sector professions including lawyers, teachers, hospital workers, opera singers and ballet dancers have also joined protests, but there have been few walk-outs in the private sector.

The CFDT, which is broadly behind the pension reforms, called off its strikes and protests after the government made concessions.

Last weekend, Laurent Djebali, representative of the UNSA-RATP union that represents the majority of drivers on the Paris Metro network, where many lines have been closed or severely disrupted December, said members had voted to return to work “for financial reasons”; strikers in France are not paid. However, he said there was “no question” of calling off the strike altogether.

The CGT, the country’s oldest and most powerful union, has accused the CFDT of selling out to the government.

This week is crucial to the government and union opposition in the pension reform dispute. The final text of the reform, a key element of Macron’s successful 2017 election campaign, will be presented to the council of ministers on Friday.

Leaked documents suggest much of the original bill – drawn up after an 18-month consultation of unions and management – remains intact. The most controversial point remains a move to keep the legal pension age at 62, but reduce the pensions paid to those who choose to leave work at that age and introduce a “full pension” age of 65 by 2037.

The government has a large parliamentary majority to push the reform through, but few expect the CGT, which has called for protests across France on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week to give up without a further fight.