Thousands of French protesters take to the streets demanding better benefits and salaries in order to compensate for the soaring cost of living in the country.
The demonstrators' actions resulted in commuters facing delays as unions staged a nationwide strike following weeks of walkouts that have affected oil refineries and parked petrol shortages across France.
French Workers Protest
The protests took place in dozens of cities in the country on Tuesday as transportation workers, alongside some high school teachers and public hospital employees, went on strike. The citizens are demanding pay rises to keep up with the soaring cost of living caused in part by inflation of 6.2%, the highest rate seen in decades.
The rate of inflation around the world has risen as economies rebounded from the coronavirus pandemic. They then worsened as Russia conducted its invasion of Ukraine which has sent food and fuel prices soaring in many countries.
The protests on Tuesday come after the country's left-wing CGT union rejected a deal over a pay raise that oil giant TotalEnergies struck with two other unions on Friday and called for continued walkouts into a fourth week, as per Aljazeera.
The two other unions, the CFDT and CFE-CGC, which together represent a majority of the group's French workers, agreed to a 7% increase in salaries and a financial bonus. However, the CGT is holding out for a 10% pay raise.
Workers who joined the strike are demanding higher wages from the windfall profits of energy companies amid soaring prices of oil and gas. The CGT rail union spokesperson, Axel Persson, said that huge profits are being claimed off the back of their work and he noted that they only wanted their fair share of the wealth.
According to Reuters, in one protest, dozens of black-clad demonstrators clashed with law enforcement personnel and broke shop windows. The interior ministry said in the early evening that in Paris, 11 people were arrested and that 107,000 people across France followed the protest calls.
Soaring Cost of Living
The number includes roughly 13,000 in the capital and the CGT trade union said that 70,000 people took part in the march in Paris. Regional train traffic was reduced by roughly half due to the strike.
Philippe Martinez, the head of the CGT union, said that the question of wages is supposed to be the French people's number one priority, calling it more than urgent. One of the protesters, Laetitia Berthault, said that at some point, the situation was no longer manageable for workers.
Barthault noted that she only got a pay raise of roughly $10 per month at the furniture chain that she works for. She noted that she is a single mother of two children, adding that they had no choice but to cut down costs on other stuff.
Budget Minister Gabriel Attal said in a statement that the left-wing coalition was trying to take advantage of the situation. He said that the protests are a march of supporters who want to block the country, US News reported.
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