Amid nationwide strikes in the energy sector, some French workers have found a novel way to protest. On Thursday, “Robin Hood” operations – not authorized by the government – provided free gas and electricity to schools, universities and low-income households across the country.
Unauthorized power supply also included public sports facilities, day care centers, universities, public libraries, some small businesses, and homes that had lost power.
The “Robin des Bois” operations, named after English folk hero Robin Hood, were part of a broader effort to force the government to abandon plans to raise the retirement age in France.
According to Philippe Martinez, General Secretary of the GGT, one of the largest trade union confederations in France, the aim was to “intensify the balance of power” in favor of the striking workers. “(It’s about) giving energy back to those who don’t have it because they can’t afford it, and make it free for hospitals and schools.
The reference to the Englishman, known for stealing from the rich to give to the poor, was “appropriate,” Martinez told FranceInfo on Wednesday.
The unconventional protest comes at the height of the cost-of-living crisis in Europe, which will cause an additional 15% rise in gas and electricity prices in France by 2023, intensifying long-standing problems. In 2021, a quarter of French households they already had difficulties paying the energy bill.
We could paralyze the country
Meanwhile, strikes by energy workers at power plants, refineries, ports and docks on Thursday reduced power availability in France by 2 gigawatts (GW) at three nuclear reactors, the cut-off table showed on Friday morning. of the state-controlled nuclear group EDF.
Strikes also broke out in almost all French ports, many of which came to a complete standstill, according to the CGT’s National Federation of Ports and Docks. While TotalEnergies workers called off their strike on Thursday night, other strikes in the energy sector continued on Friday.
The strike in the energy sector follows a nationwide strike on January 19 over pension reforms proposed by the government of President Emmanuel Macron, which include plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The changes would also end specific retirement plans at national energy companies EDF and Engie that allow some workers to retire early.
Although Macron has promised to press ahead with the reforms, which are due to be presented to Parliament on Monday, the strikers have also said they will not back down.
“The aim of today’s protests is to show that the relationship of forces is going up a notch and that, if we wanted to, we could paralyze the country,” said Gwenaël Plagne, a CGT representative at a Cordemais thermal power station in western France.
On Tuesday, January 31, a second national strike of teachers, civil servants and transporters, among others, is scheduled.
“We will continue”
It is also likely that there will be more “Robin des Bois” operations. “If the Government does not retract its pension reforms, we will continue and make the energy is free for all those who do not have access to regulated rates, whether they are public establishments or companies,” Frédéric Probel, general secretary of the CGT in Bagneux, in the suburbs of Paris, told FranceInfo on Friday.
It said that in Paris and the city’s suburbs, free energy was supplied on Thursday to hospitals, clinics, skating rinks, swimming pools, institutes, public buildings, public lighting and heating. “At least it makes sense and helps citizens,” she added.
Plans to turn power on or off can also be more selective. The General Secretary of the GCT, Martínez, denied on Wednesday that the electricity supply could be cut off to elected officials or specific people, with some exceptions. “I would suggest that some billionaires who think wages don’t need to be raised and all is well in this country could do with the experience of millions of households facing the energy insecurity“, said.
Prominent politicians have spoken out against the unauthorized free supply of energy.
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire called it “unacceptable” on Wednesday. It does not correspond to the CGT decide prices“, he declared to Europe 1. “It is not up to the CGT to decide who should pay and how much. It is the state, the public interest, the French people through their (elected) representatives.”
Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher told France 2 on Friday morning that taxpayers were likely to ultimately have to foot the bill for unauthorized electricity use.
*Article adapted from its original in English
