Oct 20 (Reuters) – European countries are facing more strikes and protests due to high energy prices and rising living costs. Here are the details of some industrial actions and demonstrations.
FRANCE
* TotalEnergies workers ended their strikes at all but two sites in France on Thursday, and morning staff at the Normandy and Feyzin refineries were the only ones to continue the stoppage, a CGT union representative said.
* Strikes have affected work at 20 of France’s 56 nuclear reactors, a representative of the electricity union FNME-CGT said on Wednesday, delaying maintenance on many ahead of scheduled talks with operator EDF. The union has organized continuous strikes over wages at some nuclear power plants.
* The CGT said it was calling for a strike at luxury goods company L’Oreal to win higher wages for staff.
* Regional rail traffic in France was roughly halved on Tuesday as several unions called for a nationwide strike. They are seeking to capitalize on anger over decades-high inflation to extend weeks of industrial action at oil refineries to other sectors. There were also some disruptions in schools as the strike mainly affected the public sector.
* Thousands of people took to the streets of Paris on Sunday to protest against soaring prices.
BRITAIN
Britain’s RMT railway workers’ union announced on Wednesday it would go on strike against 14 rail operating companies in early November after the country’s rail industry body failed to present new offers on wages, jobs and working conditions.
* Nearly 2,000 workers at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, which manufactures and maintains nuclear warheads, will vote on whether to strike after rejecting 5% compensation, the Prospect union said on Wednesday. He said a ballot for his AWE members would open on October 24 and would last two weeks.
* Around 1,000 GXO drivers in Britain will go on strike for five days from the end of the month over a pay dispute, union Unite said on Tuesday, warning against halting beer deliveries.
* Hundreds of workers at the Port of Liverpool, one of Britain’s biggest container ports, are set to take a further two weeks on strike over wages and jobs from October 24. The Communications and Workers Union, representing 115,000 Royal Mail postal workers, went on strike in September and early October, and threatened further strikes after months of unsuccessful negotiations over pay and operational changes.
* More than 300,000 members of Britain’s largest nurses’ union began voting on a strike to demand a pay rise. Junior doctors and paramedics also plan to vote on pay disputes. Railway workers have also been on strike over disputes over wages and job security.
GERMANY
* Lufthansa’s Eurowings pilots began a three-day strike over working hours on Monday, their union said, affecting tens of thousands of the low-cost airline’s passengers. The walkout is due to end at 21:59 GMT on October 19.
HUNGARY
* Thousands of Hungarian students and parents demonstrated on October 14 in the second major rally in two weeks to support teachers who were fired for joining a strike for higher wages, and more teachers have been warned of dismissal.
CZECH REPUBLIC
* Tens of thousands of Czechs demonstrated in Prague on September 28 against the government’s handling of soaring energy prices and against the country’s membership of NATO and the European Union. The protest was organized by far-right and fringe groups and parties, including the Communists.
BELGIUM
* Thousands of people took to the streets of Brussels on September 21 to protest against soaring energy prices and the cost of living. A similar demonstration in June drew around 70,000 Belgian workers. (Compiled by Alison Williams and Catherine Evans; Editing by Alex Richardson and Andrew Heavens)