"France battles to avoid winter of discontent after fuel strike chaos"

From The Financial Times, October 14:

In the northern French city of Dunkirk, near a vast fuel depot hit by strikes for the past three weeks, shortages at petrol stations have become so severe that taxi driver Saïd Fertakh has seen his earnings dwindle as he spends time trying to find somewhere to fill up his car.

“It’s becoming a struggle,” Fertakh said after filling up at one newly replenished station, where there was a long line of truckers and other motorists. “I spent an hour in a queue last week. I’ve had to say no to some customers because I needed to find somewhere to refuel.”

Strikes by oil refinery workers demanding higher wages, led by the hard-left CGT union, have become a major test for the French government as it grapples with the fallout from Europe’s energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The walkouts at some TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil sites left a third of petrol stations reporting shortages, forcing France to buy expensive diesel imports, while the state’s efforts to blunt the effect of soaring energy prices with fuel subsidies caused runs on some petrol stations.

With few quick or cheap fixes to the high costs of fuel and other goods, the risk for the state is that the industrial action spreads to other sectors or morphs into a repeat of the citizen-led gilets jaunes (yellow vest) anti-government protests that blighted president Emmanuel Macron’s first term With hard-left unions leading the charge, “it’s always hard to know if something like this will lead to a broader social movement,” said Dominique Andolfatto, a political scientist at the university of Burgundy. “[But] there are a lot of worries provoked by the increase in prices and especially energy prices.”

Some of the ingredients are present for broader unrest. Emboldened by the fuel row, the CGT and other unions have called for a general strike one day next week, rallying transport operators like train group SNCF and student groups. The left-leaning political alliance Nupes is adding to the calls for a wider movement, with a march protesting against the rising cost of living planned this weekend....

....MUCH MORE

If you've never studied mid/late 18th century French economic history it  can be summarized as:

Food got expensive.

There were riots. 

(oh, and Necker)

Pericles Press: France - The Economic History

—Chronology of Economic Events

1768

Riots over prices in Le Havre and Nantes.
1770
Riots in Rheims.
Government efforts to deal with shortages lead to popular rumors of a 'famine pact' among the nobility to starve the people.
1774
May 10 - Louis XVI ascends to throne of France.
Poor harvest in the fall.
1775
April 27-May - "Flour War"
Bread prices in Paris increase by over 50%..
Rioting starts at Beaumont-sur-Oise, spreads to Paris..
Hundreds arrested, two executed, before order is restored.
June 11 - Coronation of Louis XVI.
1776
October 22 - Necker appointed Director of the Treasury.
1777
Necker begins financing money for American War of Independence through governmental loans, rather than taxes. System will raise 520 million livres by May 1781. 1781
May 19 - Necker resigns.
Successor Joly de Fleury implements tax increases. By December 1782 will raise 252 million livres.
1787
February 22 - Assembly of Notables convenes.
March - Notables balk at overhauling tax and administrative systems.
May 1 - Brienne appointed Chief of the Royal Council of Finances.
Government floats new loan.
May 25 - Assembly of Notables dissolved.
1788
June - Government tries to implement overhaul of judicial system.
June 7 - Day of Tiles (Grenoble); Mob bombards troops with tiles.; 4 people killed in rioting, 40 injured.
July 13 - Severe hailstorm destroys crops in northern France.
August 8 - Announcement of convocation of Estates General.
Will formally meet on May 1, 1789.
August 16 - Government suspends treasury payments on loans due to lack of funds, causing panic in French stock market, as well as a bank run.
August 24 - Necker reappointed.
Reimposes price controls, in anticipation of shortages from poor harvest.
September - Restoration of Parlements.
Oct 5 - Dec 12 - Second Assembly of Notables meets.
Oct 24 - 26 - Necker reappointed Minister of Finance.

1789

January 24 - Summoning of the Estates General.
January 26-29 - Crowd demanding lower bread prices is attacked by bands of students. Several killed in the fighting.
Winter-spring - Shortages lead to higher prices and rising unemployment.
April 27-28 - Reveillon riots. Acting on rumors of wage cuts, rioters destroy factory of wallpaper manufacturer; 25 killed when troops open fire.
May 5 - Estates General convene.
May - Bread riots occur throughout Flanders, Artois, Picardy, and Normandy.
June 17 - National Assembly proclaimed.
June 20 - Tennis Court Oath.
June 28-30 - Rioters protesting high prices destroy city's toll-gates.
Early July - Troops assigned to protect convoys of grain and flour.
July 11 - Necker dismissed.
July 14 - Rising grain prices and food shortages finally peak.
Fall of the Bastille.
July 22 - Foulon and Bertier, rumored to have been part of a plot to starve Paris, are murdered and decapitated by a mob.
July 20 - 31 - "Great Fear" - Fear that nobility intends to use force to reverse gains causes panic among peasantry throughout France.
Castles and abbeys sacked.
August 26 - Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen.
August - Government attempt to float two loans fails.
September - Grain prices increase. Grain riots occur around Paris and groups of women stop grain convoys. Guards placed around bakers' shops.
October 5-6 - Fueled by rumors of another starvation plot, crowd marches to Versailles. Lafayette escorts king back to Paris, followed by a procession of 60,000.
October 21 - Martial Law against Tumults passed. Allows local authorities to declare martial law to deal with disturbances.

....MUCH MORE