power cuts, a centuries-old tradition

“We don’t want to take negative action vis-à-vis the suffering population. Claude Martin, the federal secretary of the National Federation of Mines and Energy (FNME) of the CGT, justifies without difficulty the actions carried out in recent days, almost everywhere in France, by the “Robin Hoods of energy”, as they call themselves.

According to the union, hospitals, schools or public housing have benefited from free electricity and gas, small businesses have been switched to off-peak hours and individuals whose power supply had been cut have had their meters restored. “This is just the beginning, the agents have a perfect command of their work tool and are able to act anywhere and anytime”, assures the trade unionist.

The first movements at the beginning of the 20th century

New actions of this type are planned for Tuesday, January 31, alongside the classic load reductions, that is to say production reductions. A way for the FNME to gradually increase the pressure, by showing that it retains a real power of nuisance.

It’s not new. The use of power cuts goes back to the first social conflicts in electricity, at the beginning of the last century. “On March 8 and 9, 1907, Paris was put in the dark. The electricians then demanded to be able to benefit from the status of the city of Paris”, recounts, with a touch of emotion, François Duteil, former secretary general of the CGT-energy, in the 1980s, who today chairs the Institute of social history of mines and energy. Their demands were immediately met.

“The leader of the movement was Émile Pataud, one of the figureheads of direct action trade unionism which then guided the CGT”, underlines the historian Stéphane Sirot, author of several books on the subject, “whose most radicals justify sabotage as a weapon of social struggle. »

Rebelote in February 1909. After the interruption of the current for forty-five minutes at the Opera, while the King of Portugal was in the room, the electricians will obtain substantial improvements in their working conditions, negotiated directly by the one whom the press then dubs it “King Pataud” or “the king in the shadows”.

Engineers to replace electricians

But these stunts are little appreciated by public opinion and the State very quickly finds the parade. From 1908, engineers were trained to replace electricians. These cuts will only intervene in a punctual and targeted manner, with industrialists or business circles, like the Paris Stock Exchange, during major social conflicts, such as in 1936 and in 1953 and in 1968.

After the war, the watchword was first not to penalize households. Under the influence of Marcel Paul, the communist minister of industrial production in 1945, who was to be the architect of the nationalization of EDF, the CGT oriented itself towards a trade unionism which presented itself as the guarantor of public service.

For strikes, the common practice becomes rather those of massive production cuts and which do not affect certain vital sectors, such as hospitals. “The first large-scale cuts, those of 1957, apparently intervened with at least a form of management’s consent”, advances Stéphane Sirot. Regulations are also being put in place to limit their scope.

Nuclear is a game-changer

But the evolution of the production fleet changes the situation. “Thermal power plants and dams could be shut down in minutes or an hour or two. With the development of nuclear power, it became more complicated and we had to think about new forms of action, ”explains the former boss of CGT-energy.

Hence the development of “Robin Hood” type operations. “The first date back to the mid-1990s and were quickly structured around the fight against energy poverty and the deregulation of energy markets, always with the objective of having public opinion with us”, adds François Duteil .

To hear the union leader, however, these operations are increasingly difficult to carry out. All distribution stations are computerized and agents must enter codes and passwords to access electrical cabinets. The deployment of the Linky meter would also complicate things.

The CGT also highlights “stronger union repression”, with complaints systematically filed by EDF and its subsidiaries. The police custody in October 2022 of four agents of RTE, the manager of high and very high voltage lines, in the premises of the DGSI’s anti-terrorist services, made an impression. They are suspected of damage to the network. Already suspended, they are summoned at the end of February, before the Paris Criminal Court.

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