The French government, under fire from critics, announced on Tuesday the requisition of personnel for the release of fuel depots from the Esso-Exxonmobil group. A third of service stations are affected by shortages.
From north to south of France, the same scenes are repeated: closed stations, endless queues, rising prices and the morale of motorists at half mast.
At Esso-Exxonmobil a wage agreement was concluded Monday by two trade unions, majority at the level of the group but not of its refineries.
“I asked the prefects to initiate, as permitted by law, the procedure for requisitioning the personnel essential to the operation of the depots of this company”, declared French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne in the lower house.
“Social dialogue means moving forward once a majority has emerged. These are not minimum agreements. Management announcements are significant,” she argued.
“unblock the situation”
Esso has three depots in France, in Toulouse (southwest), Fos-sur-Mer (south) and Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon (northwest). The last two are near the company’s two French refineries, which are on strike.
Commenting on the situation in the other oil group affected by strike movements, TotalEnergies, the head of government urged management and unions to engage in wage negotiations, threatening if not to do the same to “unblock the situation”.
“At Total, the reformist unions have called for the opening of negotiations. Management has responded favorably. I hope that the other representative unions will seize this outstretched hand, because social dialogue is always more fruitful than conflict,” said said Ms. Borne.
“Failing that, the government will act, once more, to unblock the situation,” she added.
At TotalEnergies, the employees voted once more Monday morning “by a large majority for the continuation of the strike”, announced Eric Sellini, of the CGT.
This concerns in particular its refinery in Normandy (north-west of France), its fuel depot in Flanders (north) and its “bio-refinery” in La Mède (south).
Supers profits
The unions highlight the super profits made by the oil groups, which benefit from the surge in prices linked to the war in Ukraine. TotalEnergies thus reaped $10.6 billion in profits in the first half.
For several weeks, the country has been affected by strikes in refineries and fuel depots, at the call of trade unions demanding wage increases.
This social movement has started to create major difficulties for motorists since last week.
“When there are proposals for negotiations, you have to seize them. Otherwise it’s no longer a strike to obtain results, it’s quite simply a blockage of the country, and that’s not acceptable”, declared the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, on the media France Info.
“The government calls for all the blockages to be lifted without delay. Otherwise, we will take our responsibilities, that is to say that we might be forced to lift them”, also affirmed the government spokesperson. Olivier Véran, the day following an emergency meeting.
“Lack of anticipation”
However, many motorists and certain leading professions deplore this situation, such as private nurses, who are worried regarding not being able to visit their patients and endangering their health.
“I spent three hours (noon yesterday) in the queue for a station. I had to do my rounds in speed and leave my patients on stand-by to go and fill up quickly”, explained to AFP Sandrine Monteiro, 35-year-old liberal nurse.
The oppositions accused the government, the right and the extreme right criticizing a “lack of anticipation” and a “febrility”, when the left denounced “threats for the employees but (of) caresses for the bosses”.
Mr. Véran estimated that regaining “normal functioning” in the most affected regions would “take a few days”, and assured that “this will be the case within 15 days”.
He also considered it abnormal that “a few strike profiteers” have caused “the prices of gasoline at the pump” to jump in certain stations.
This article has been published automatically. Sources: ats / afp
