French government orders workers to ensure fuel supplies

PARIS (AP) — The French government has moved to requisition workers operating petrol 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 an ongoing strike. France’s Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne on Wednesday asked prefects at the National Assembly to launch the procedure “to requisition workers who are indispensable to the functioning” of the Esso petrol depots and is expected to make a similar decision soon regarding Total facilities if salary negotiations do not start quickly. The drastic measure comes as drivers have been forced to wait in long lines to fill up their cars and gas stations have temporarily closed while awaiting deliveries in recent days.