"PARIS -- To fight President Emmanuel Macron's pension overhaul, France's most militant labor union is pursuing a radical strategy: cutting electricity to his political supporters and the wealthy while handing out discounted power and gas to the public.
During a nationwide strike last week, members of the CGT union who work in the energy sector cut power to the office of a lawmaker from Mr. Macron's party for more than three hours. On Monday, CGT energy workers in Marseille manipulated electricity and gas meters to cut bills for bakers who were protesting in the French port city against high energy prices. CGT's leadership called such moves a "Robin Hood" operation and said they would continue as the country prepares for another protest on Tuesday.
"Strikes are good, but they're no longer enough," said Sebastien Menesplier, head of the CGT's energy division. "We have to take actions that are visible and impact those who are supporting the government."
Philippe Martinez, the CGT's national leader, this week proposed cutting power to billionaires and singled out Vincent Bollore, a French tycoon. "They can put themselves into the position of millions of people who face energy poverty," Mr. Martinez said.
CGT workers occupy sensitive posts across the country's energy infrastructure -- from oil refineries and power grids to France's fleet of nuclear reactors -- allowing them to shut production or supply energy for free. The tactics have drawn outrage from the government -- and warnings that union members who use their positions to pressure lawmakers would face legal sanctions.
"It's not the CGT who decides in France," said Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister. "It is the French people through their representatives."
In September, CGT members shut down most of France's oil refineries for weeks to demand higher wages, leading to nationwide fuel shortages. CGT members at EDF SA, France's state-controlled power company, went on strike at the same time as the company was racing to restart nuclear reactors after a rash of outages. The strike delayed maintenance and repairs, raising fears that France wouldn't generate enough power to make it through the winter without rolling blackouts. CGT's strikes roiled energy markets across Western Europe, which was already facing an energy crisis after Russia cut the continent's natural-gas supplies.
The CGT engineered power outages during nationwide strikes in 2019, when Mr. Macron first proposed overhauling the pension system and doing away with special retirement plans that covered workers from certain sectors. Those moves led to scattered outages across the country.
This time, the CGT has specific targets after the government announced plans to increase the retirement age to 64.
Huguette Tiegna, a member of Mr. Macron's Renaissance party in the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, said the power in her district office in the southwest town of Figeac was cut during national protests last week.
The local chapter of the CGT said it was responsible for the power cut.
"We are in a democracy, these methods are unacceptable," Ms. Tiegna said, adding that she was open to dialogue with unions. Ms. Tiegna said she filed a complaint with the police.” [1]
1. World News: French Union Cuts Power to Press Macron --- Outages to fight a pension overhaul hit politicians and wealthy, draw legal warnings
Dalton, Matthew; Bisserbe, Noemie. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 28 Jan 2023: A.7.
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