France orders gas depot workers back to ensure fuel supplies

By ALEXANDER TURNBULL
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — The French government has moved to requisition workers operating gas depots of ExxonMobil’s French branch Esso in an attempt to ensure that service stations around the country are supplied with badly needed fuel amid a strike. French Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne on Wednesday asked prefects to launch the procedure and is expected to make a similar decision soon regarding Total facilities if salary negotiations do not start quickly. The government’s requisition measure comes two days after a deal was reached between two unions and Esso’s leadership over a pay rise. Yet some other hard-left unions have rejected it and decided to continue the strike. Drivers have been forced to wait in long lines to fill up their cars and many stations have had to close.