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LATEST: How Tuesday's strike will disrupt trains, schools and waste collection in France

The Local France
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LATEST: How Tuesday's strike will disrupt trains, schools and waste collection in France
Public transport is likely to be affected by Tuesday's strike. Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP

French unions have called an 'inter-professional' strike for Tuesday with workers in sectors including transport, energy, schools and waste collection set to walk out. Here's how services will be affected.

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As part of an increasingly tense dispute between the French government and unions and leftist political parties, an 'inter-professional' strike, affecting multiple different professions, has been called for Tuesday, October 18th.

The dispute began as a pay dispute between energy firms Total and Esso and their staff that led to a three-week blockade of oil refineries that saw filling stations across France run dry. The government decided to use emergency strike-breaking powers and it is this, together with a context of anger at the rising cost of living and Emmanuel Macron's plans for radical reform of the pensions and benefit system, that led to the call for strike action on Tuesday.

At present this is a one-day strike, but some unions are already talking about renewing strike calls. The strike was called by the hardline CGT union, but the FO, Solidaires and FSU are joining in. The country's largest union - CFDT - is not involved.

Demonstrations will take place in at least 150 locations across the country. In Paris, the march will leave from the Place d'Italie at 2 pm, to go toward Place Vauban, near Invalides.

READ ALSO 5 things to know if you're in France during a strike

Here's what we can expect from services:

Trains

SNCF posted its strike timetable on Monday evening, showing that services on the high speed TGV network will only be lightly disrupted.

TGV trains in the Nord, Est and Sud-Est regions will run as normal, with 'slight disruption' in the Atlantique area and on the budget Ouigo trains.

International trains between France and Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany will be 'quasi normal' but there will be slight disruption on the Eurostar and services between France and Spain. The Paris-Vienna night train will not run on Monday night or Tuesday night.

The local train network will see more disruption with only around half of the normal services running on the local TER network.

On the Intercité routes there will be half the normal services on the Paris-Limoges-Toulouse route, 3 trains out of 4 on Paris-Clermont, 1 train out of 4 on Bordeaux-Marseille, 1 train out of 2 on Nantes-Bordeaux and no trains on Clermont-Béziers. Traffic will be normal on Nantes-Lyon and Toulouse-Hendaye.

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Paris public transport

The Paris public transport operator RATP has published its full strike timetable, showing that services on the Metro and trams will be normal or nearly normal.

 

Metro lines 6, 12 and 13 will be 'lightly disrupted' with 8 in 10 or 9 in 10 of the normal services running. Traffic on all other Metro lines will be as normal.

Tramline T7 will have 3 in 4 or the normal services running, and will stop early at 10.30pm, all other tram lines will run as normal.

Bus services will be disrupted with two in three of the normal services running, with lines 101, 168, 260, 278, 319, 537, 538, 574 and 577 particularly disrupted.

RER A and RER B - which connects Paris to its two airports - will be running three in four of their normal services. RER C and D will be running half and one third of their normal services, respectively. 

Flights

No airline unions have indicated that they will join the strike so flights should be unaffected, although you may need to allow extra time to get to the airport if travelling by public transport.

Schools and crèches

Some teachers and crèche staff will also walk out, and several local authorities have already informed parents that they will not be able to provide the usual after-school activities on Tuesday.

It is expected that the strike will be particularly well-supported among crèche staff- who are already involved in a pay dispute - and it's likely that many crèches will have to close for the day. 

Teachers have until Monday evening to inform schools whether they will be on strike, and parents will be informed directly by schools if there are any closures. 

READ ALSO 16 French phrases to use during a strike

Waste collection

Waste collectors in cities including Paris, Aix, Marseille, Bordeaux, Rouen and Toulouse have indicated that they will strike on Tuesday, so don't expect your rubbish to be collected on that day.

Other municipal employees are likely to join the strike including road workers, civil servants in local government offices and librarians, so there could be local closures of certain services.

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Oil refinery workers

Some of the workers involved in the long-running blockade of oil refineries have voted to continue their strike, leading the government to threaten more widespread use of the emergency power of 'requisition' to force striking employees back to work. The situation in France's filling stations is gradually easing, but many remain short of fuel.

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

 

Nuclear power plants

Staff are already on strike at several French nuclear power plants, and more are expected to join in on Tuesday. This does not involve people operating the power plants - therefore won't directly affect customers on Tuesday - but concerns workers involved in the massive maintenance programme necessary to get France's nuclear plants back online in time for winter. Power firm Edf has already announced a delayed restart for some of the many plants that are currently offline due to maintenance issues.

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Truck drivers

Truck drivers are also supporting the strike and are expected to walk out in large numbers on Tuesday. This probably won't directly affect consumers, although some shops could see delayed deliveries.

Food factory workers

Around 50,000 employees in the food industry, mostly employed at factories and processing plants, have indicated that they will join the strike.

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