PARIS, Mar 21 Strikes against pension reform at three terminals Elengy's LNG, which was due to end on Tuesday, has been extended by another week, Liberation reported.
«According to information from the CGT union, after a general meeting on Tuesday, employees of the three liquefied natural gas terminals unanimously decided to extend the strike for another week. A new meeting will be held next Tuesday, at which a decision will be made to continue the strike,» the publication reported. .
It is noted that employees of the country's fourth LNG branch of Fluxys Gaz-Opale in Dunkirk will decide to extend the strike on Thursday.
As the newspaper notes, the strike can have an extremely negative effect: Elengy is already forced to take more from gas storage facilities than planned.
Gas workers' strikes began on March 6 and were supposed to last a week, but they have already been repeatedly extended. At the moment, all four LNG terminals have been shut down in France, as well as 13 out of 14 gas storage facilities.
All LNG imports to France are carried out through four port terminals. These are two LNG terminals in Fos-sur-Mer (Fos-Cavaou and Fos-Tonkin) in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, as well as the Saint-Nazare terminal (Montoire-de-Bretagne commune) in the Loire-Atlantique department in the east countries. All three terminals are operated by Elengy, a subsidiary of the French gas operator GRTgaz. The fourth terminal is located in the north of the country in Dunkirk and is operated by Belgium-based company Fluxys.
It was noted that during the strike, gas will not be supplied to the networks of the French operator GRTgaz, LNG tankers will not be unloaded and transport tank containers will not be filled.
Last week, Prime Minister Elisabeth Born used article 49.3 of the French constitution to pass a bill to raise the country's retirement age from 62 to 64 without a vote in Parliament. This step caused a wave of indignation among the deputies, who announced the «end of democracy.» Since Thursday, spontaneous protests have been held in Paris and other French cities, ending in clashes between demonstrators and the police.