French unions strike across multiple sectors as budget proposal looms

By Forrest Crellin

PARIS, Sept 15 (Reuters) - French unions across multiple sectors held a day of strikes on Tuesday to protest issues from pay rates to rising fuel prices, with the power union throttling electricity supply and halting gas transit and other workers joining marches.

The French government is due to present a budget proposal soon, a particularly delicate exercise as parties in the divided parliament harden their positions ahead of the 2027 election.

French growth is expected to slow by more than previously forecast this year, with the downgraded outlook pushing the deficit above 5% of gross domestic product, missing government targets.

The government, which has been battling to cut the deficit for years, has said it will be a collective effort to rein in spending, spurring fears from unions of austerity measures.

In Paris, the police union marched to demand higher pay and benefits along with right-wing politicians, with officers demonstrating on their breaks as they are barred from striking.

"Our only choice is to show strength in the streets," said Loic Travers, the deputy secretary general of 'Alliance' Police Union.

In the south, fishermen blocked a fuel depot to protest rising fuel costs.

"We cannot keep asking for more from the people who produce, who transport, who feed and who make the country run, all while leaving them less and less to live with," said Philippe Maurizot, the mayor of Fos-sur-Mer, the town where the fishermen were demonstrating, in a statement.

LNG DELIVERIES SHARPLY REDUCED IN DUNKIRK

Workers in the energy sector protesting proposed changes to employee electricity discounts cut delivery capacity at France's biggest liquefied natural gas terminal, Dunkirk LNG, to 4 gigawatt hours per day, data from its operator Fluxys showed.

The disruption is likely to affect sendout from the terminal, which serves markets outside France, by an estimated 476 GWh a day, though no cargoes have been scheduled to arrive at Dunkirk and none were redirected, LSEG analyst Dzmitry Dauhalevich said.

Some of this volume might be offset by increasing sendout from terminals in the Netherlands, Belgium and the Montoir terminal, he added. 

Three other LNG terminals in the country — two at Fos-sur-Mer and one in Montoir in western France — were operating as normal, operator Elengy said.

France is one of Europe's largest exporters of gas to the rest of the continent, which is scrambling to refill its gas storage before winter, with Germany and other gas-reliant countries lagging European Union storage targets.

LARGEST ELECTRICITY SECTOR WALKOUT IN DECADES

EDF said 59% of its workforce in the electricity and gas industries union — about 38,000 people — took part in the strike action by midday on Tuesday.

The turnout is the highest in decades, eclipsing the numbers on strike in 2011 when changes to the subsidy were also being considered.

The strike curbed electricity output at eight nuclear reactors and a French gas plant, but did not affect security of supply or France's status as a net electricity exporter.

(Reporting by Forrest Crellin, additional reporting by Mateusz Rabiega, Antony Paone and Marc Leras; Editing by Makini Brice and Jan Harvey)