France flexes the law’s muscles as oil workers’ strike enters a third week

The French government has so far kept its nose out of the labor crisis brewing at its oil refineries—but it’s now stepping in with a hardline measure.

On Tuesday (Oct. 11), the government said it would force a number of Esso-ExxonMobil fuel workers back to their plants as parts of the country ran out of fuel. “I’ve asked police commissioners to begin, as the law permits, the requisition of personnel essential to this company’s facilities,” prime minister Élisabeth Borne told lawmakers, quoted by Politico.