ANALYSIS: When will the French fuel shortages end?

Workers at the French energy giants Total and Esso who are involved in a pay dispute have walked out and also staged blockades at refineries around the country.

This has lead to filling stations around the country running out of petrol (gasoline) and diesel.

https://www.thelocal.fr/20221010/map-how-to-find-petrol-or-diesel-during-frances-fuel-shortages/

With the autumn school holidays - a peak season for French tourism - approaching, we look at what happens next.

What is the dispute?

The strike was called by the hardline CGT union, demanding a 10 percent pay increase for employees in order to cope with the rising cost of living, pointing out that Total and Esso has made huge windfall profits following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

After three weeks Esso reached a deal with its workers, while Total was still unable to come to an agreement.

Pay disputes are usually one of the easier disputes to settle, since it simply requires a promise from a single company, but this one has proved unusually ling lasting. It is strikes against proposed government plans - such as pension reform - or action against a more general problem - like the cost of living - that tend to last for weeks or even months. 

In our Talking France podcast you can listen to our journalists and politics expert John Lichfield discuss the fuel blockades and what's likely to happen next. Download here.

Many sectors in France have already won pay increases to deal with inflation - the government's 2023 budget includes pay rises for public sector workers while air traffic control staff won themselves a pay increase after staging two strike days in September. 

What is the government doing?

Usually the French government doesn't get directly involved in a strike if it is a simple pay dispute between workers and their bosses, but it can and will take action if national security or infrastructure is threatened, and the national network of fuel stations is counted as part of the country's infrastructure.

After three weeks of disruption, and with people all over France unable to get to work because they could not fill up their cars, the government announced it would use a controversial power known as requisition to force striking employees back to work.

This caused great anger from the unions, by the courts upheld the government's right to do this.

So what does that mean?

By Thursday, October 20th,  the blockades had ended at all but two refineries and the situation at filling stations was slowly improving.

However it will take some time to return entirely to normal, and by Thursday 20 percent of French filling stations were still experiencing shortages of at least one fuel type.

What about the school holidays?

School holidays in France begin on Saturday, October 22nd and last for two weeks. It's common for French parents to take time off work during this period and take a trip, while British families often visit France at this time. Holidays in most parts of the UK also take place in the final week of October.

The government has moved to reassure people that things will be back to normal by the start of the Toussaint break, although many hotel industry representatives report wide scale cancellations as French families abandon their plans for a trip away.