AFP, published on Wednesday, October 19, 2022 at 10:37 p.m.
The mobilization of strikers at the oil sites of TotalEnergies fell sharply on Wednesday with the lifting of the strike at three sites, while two others decided to continue their showdown with management, with the government insisting that the situation “continues to improve” on the fuel front before the holidays.
The striking employees of the “Flandres” site in Mardyck (North), near Dunkirk (refinery and depot), and La Mède in the Bouches-du-Rhône (biorefinery and depot), “suspended” their movement on Wednesday evening, at when the night teams had to take their shift, AFP learned from Eric Sellini, national coordinator of the CGT for TotalEnergies.
Three weeks following the start of the mobilization for wages, the end of the strike had been voted earlier in the day at the Donges refinery (Loire-Atlantique).
On the other hand, the movement was renewed in Gonfreville in Seine-Maritime (refinery and depot) and at the Feyzin depot (Rhône), indicated Mr. Sellini.
Confronted for days with queues of exasperated motorists in front of empty gas stations, the government had wanted to be reassuring during the day.
“The situation continues to improve markedly” on the fuel supply front, said Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.
“I know that the situation is still difficult for many of our compatriots, but the momentum is there and I want to once once more call on the striking employees to return to work,” she added.
Wednesday at 1:00 p.m., 20.3% of service stations were experiencing supply difficulties on at least one fuel ( once morest 24.8% on Tuesday), with situations still tense in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (33.1%), Ile-de-France (30.5%) and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (29.4%), according to figures from the Ministry of Energy Transition.
The Vinci Autoroutes group has announced that at least 90% of the service stations in its network are able to supply fuel: “Continuity of service at the 181 service areas in the Vinci Autoroutes network is 90% guaranteed on average in for unleaded gasoline, and 92% on average for diesel.”
– “Not there to handicap the citizen” –
In a hurry to speed up deliveries to stations a few days before the first departures on vacation, the government requisitioned employees on the Feyzin site on Wednesday, so as to relieve the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regions.
“The release of the Feyzin depot allows significant improvements,” assured the Prime Minister. A total of 20 people were affected by these requisitions for the day on Wednesday, according to the prefecture.
According to the site’s CGT union representative, Pedro Afonso, 195 trucks left the depot during the day (the refinery being shut down for technical reasons).
On the spot, “the striking employees will not lift the strike until they have nothing concrete on the table”, declared Mr. Afonso following a meeting with the local management, estimating that the position of the latter will evolve “in the coming days if and only if the strike continues”.
“The strikers are not there to handicap the citizen or the user (…) but (…) to try to obtain legitimate demands for the employees”, added the union representative of Feyzin.
The CGT told AFP on Wednesday morning that it had proposed an “end-of-conflict exit protocol” to the group’s management, which the latter refused.
This protocol provided for “negotiations on employment and investments”, “local negotiations on the specific problems raised by the strikers” as well as “guarantees on the absence of repression vis-à-vis the strikers”, according to Mr. Sellini.
For its part, TotalEnergies recalled that an agreement had been concluded on Friday with the two majority unions in the group, the CFE-CGC and the CFDT. A text that the CGT has not signed.
“The negotiations are therefore over,” the group told AFP.
The agreement provides for a general increase of 5% in wages, accompanied by individual increases and an exceptional bonus of between 3,000 and 6,000 euros. The CGT demanded a 10% wage increase to compensate for inflation and take advantage of the exceptional income earned by the group.