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Trade unions call for a rally in Paris, in front of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Thursday, September 19, 2019. REUTERS / Charles Platiau

The strike movement at EDF entered Thursday in its second day. The unions are fighting a joint front against Hercules, a plan to separate the company into two entities, one of which would be floated on the stock market.

According to figures from EDF and RTE, this Thursday morning, the second day of a strike, the movement resulted in a decline in production of just over 5 gigawatts, or 9% of the total capacity.

At the origin of the grumbling within the public company, the project of reorganization "Hercules" . A " disaster ", says Philippe Page Le Merour, CGT union representative. " The project" Hercules "is a cutting project of the company EDF, for financial purposes, without any vision or public service or industrial, and even less social obviously, he denounces. This would inevitably result in a rise in the short and medium term of electricity since if we open network activities to shareholders on regulated activities, they will quickly want that it pays them. And secondly, a disaster for all employees in the sector as well, since we are going to be in total social dumping. "

Hercule would create on one side a "blue EDF" including nuclear power, hydroelectric dams and the transmission of electricity and the other a "green EDF" with Enedis, EDF Renewables, Dalkia, the direction of trade, activities Overseas and EDF Corsica. The blue entity would be 100% owned by the state, while the green, which includes all activities that have guaranteed income, is the juiciest , according to the unions, would be listed on the stock market up to 35% .

CGT, CFDT, FO and CFE-CGC unanimously denounce the project. A very strong mobilization was expected, but without consequence for the users. " We have entered a balance of power that will, hopefully, bring our leaders back to common sense. There will be no degradation consequences for users, says Philippe Page Le Merour. For us, it's about putting users on our side to defend their public electricity service. We are asking for the balance sheet of deregulation and, certainly, the recipe is to go back to the public, industrial and commercial establishments that deal with the production, transmission and distribution of electricity in this country. "

A rally is scheduled for Thursday in Paris before the Ministry of Ecological Transition.