French steel union threaten to block Tour de France route over labour dispute
The French union, General Confederation of Labour (CGT), have threatened to block the third stage of this summer's Tour de France over a labour dispute.
Stage Three is slated to take place in the Nord department of France on July 7, running between Valenciennes and Dunkirk.
Union officials are upset at a potential 302 redundancies at steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal, one of the largest employers in the Nord region. The organisation say they will organise disruption unless the French government holds negotiations over the nationalisation of the country's steel industry.
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'Let's be clear, I respect the Tour de France and those who love it, but there is an economic and social emergency here,' CGT general secretary Jean-Paul Delescaut told Lille-based newspaper La Voix du Nord.
'Metal affects everyone. Including bicycles. If by July 7, we haven't been gathered around the table to talk about nationalizing the steel industry, there will be no yellow jersey in Dunkirk.'
The Tour de France is hugely lucrative to local departments — who bid around €100,000 to host stages of the race — with the added tourism driving increased revenue in the regional economy.
Delescaut added: 'Unless the Ministers of the Interior and Justice are capable of putting an officer every 20 meters, there are 178 kilometers of route between Valenciennes and Dunkirk.
'If we put 1,000 to 2,000 comrades, that's one comrade every 100 meters. They will have to bring back all the CRS officers (the French riot police) from across France so that the third stage can take place.'
The Tour de France has often faced disruption from activists. In 2018, four-time winner Chris Froome was one of several riders who required treatment after being affected by tear gas used to break up a farmer's protest. Three years earlier, the Dutch police threatened to disrupt a stage held in Utrecht in a pay dispute, only calling off their plans three days before.
Most recently, stage 10 of the 2022 Tour was halted for 15 minutes after activists from climate group Dernière Rénovation blocked the road.
Infamously, the fifth stage of 1984's edition of Paris-Nice race was blocked by workers from the local shipyard. Legendary French rider Bernard Hinault — still the most recent Frenchman to win the Tour — ploughed into the protestors at full speed, before rising to his feet and aiming a punch at one of them.
The ASO, the Tour de France's organisers, have been contacted for comment.
(Photo by Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images)
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