French refinery strike continues for second day

Staff at seven of France’s eight oil refineries has continued to strike for the second day in protest against a pension reforms plan by the government.

The four-day strike began on Tuesday and is due to last until Saturday.

"It's not a physical blockade, it's just people who have stopped working and when they stop working then there are no shipments of fuel to the interior market. That's what a strike at a refinery is," said CGT union representative David Arnould, who works at Total's refinery in Donges in western France.

The CGT union said Total's refineries in Donges, Feyzin, Normandie and Grandpuits as well as its bio-refinery at La Mède will shut down completely and will not distribute a single product.

The walkout is part of national protests against plans by the government of President Emmanuel Macron to merge 42 existing pension schemes into a single one, which has seen a month-long strike on the national rail and Paris metro systems.

It also comes ahead of mass demonstrations on Thursday called by union leaders.

The strike action has not caused fuel shortages and did not disrupt traffic on the roads as oil companies and the government kept fuel flowing to gas stations.

Union leaders, however, say they are determined to squeeze supplies until the pension reforms are scrapped.

SS