Strikes continue in French refineries and deliveries are suspended at TotalEnergies

PARIS, March 8 (Reuters) – Deliveries from TotalEnergies refineries have been suspended due to a new strike sparked by the government’s pension reform plan, a spokesman for the company said on Wednesday.

Strikes are continuing at Esso (ExxonMobil) refineries in Fos, northern France, and Port Jerome, in the south of the country, blocking fuel supplies, a union representative told Reuters.

Around 90% of Fos workers are currently on strike and 20% of those in Port Jérôme, the source specifies.

Total said 54% of the 269 workers at its refinery who were on duty Wednesday were on strike.

Around 1.28 million people took to the streets on Tuesday in demonstrations across the country, according to the Interior Ministry, making the day of protest – the sixth against the reform this year – the one with the highest turnout. nowadays.

The unions are trying to put pressure on the government with the decision, for the first time since the beginning of the protest movement at the end of January, to opt for the continuation of strikes, at least in certain sectors, including the oil refineries of TotalEnergies.

(Reporting by Forrest Crellin and Benjamin Mallet; editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Jason Neely, editing in Spanish by José Muñoz)