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French Unions Block Fuel Depots in Protest Against Labor Reforms

by Reuters

   PARIS --

   French trade unionists blocked access on Monday to several fuel depots
   in protest against an overhaul of employment laws, seeking to test the
   government's will to reform the economy.

   In southern France, protesters' unions set up a road-block in front of
   Total's La Mede refinery, while in western France fuel depots were
   blocked near Bordeaux and the coastal city of La Rochelle. Union
   members also held go-slow operations on highways near Paris and in
   northern France.

   "We're determined. We're going to stay as long as possible while hoping
   that other blockades take place elsewhere, maybe that'll make Mr.
   Macron move," Force Ouvriere union official Pascal Favre told Reuters.

   Eager to avoid fuel shortages, centrist President Emmanuel Macron's
   government deployed police at some sites before dawn to ensure by force
   that protesters could not block access.

   "It's not in blockading the country's economy and by preventing people
   from working, that one best defends one's cause," junior economy
   minister Benjamin Griveaux told RTL radio.

   The labor reform is due to become law in the coming days after Macron
   formally signed five labor form decrees on Friday, in the first major
   economic reforms since he took power in May.

   The new rules, discussed at length in advance with unions, will cap
   payouts on dismissals that are judged unfair, while also giving
   companies greater freedom to hire and fire employees and to agree
   working conditions.

   While unions have failed to derail the reform, the considerable
   political capital Macron had after his landslide election victory in
   May is quickly evaporating.

   Macron suffered his first electoral setback on Sunday when his Republic
   on the Move (LREM) party won fewer seats than expected in elections for
   the French Senate.