Striking workers cut power across all of French territory Guadeloupe

A photo taken on April 10, 2024 shows a street in a neighborhood of the city of Point-a-Pitre on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.

Electricity on the entire French territory of Guadeloupe was cut off on Friday after workers on strike turned off the motors in the main EDF power station. Police stepped in to secure the site and the local prefect said that some workers would be requisitioned to bring normal electricity service back to the archipelago.

France's overseas territory of Guadeloupe was entirely without power on Friday, with authorities blaming striking workers for the outage.

Workers at the territory's thermal power station in the industrial zone of Jarry entered the command room "and caused an emergency shutdown of all the engines", the Guadeloupe prefecture said in a statement.

Restored electricity supply for the 230,000 affected households was expected at 3.00 PM (1900 GMT) at best.

Police intervened and the archipelago's prefect had "requisitioned" staff to bring the station back up to speed, it said.

The French government has mobilised "services and operators" to bring power back as soon as possible, said Energy Minister Olga Givernet.

A labour dispute over pay has pitted the energy branch of the hard-left CGT union against the EDF utility since September 15.

Power outages have affected daily life in Jarry, the economic powerhouse of the French territory of close to 380,000 inhabitants, over the past week.

(AFP)


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