Tense situation at gas stations: the strike for the revaluation of salaries continues this Friday at the TotalEnergies refineries, due to the call of the CGT, which estimates that this could lead to supply difficulties at certain service stations. These stations have already been victims of their own success since the oil giant introduced a 20 cent discount on pumps to contain the French energy bill. It is added to the 30 cents granted by the State.
The strikers of most of the French refineries of TotalEnergies, fighting for a consideration of inflation in wages, decided this Friday to extend the movement that was initially going to end on Thursday night, after three days of work stoppage, the CGT reported. . Eric Sellini, coordinator of the group’s CGT, spoke of “supply problems”, stating that he had to “supply from the competition” in Ile-de-France. The continuation of the strike risks “further increasing the problem,” he says.
“Consequences for the public, that is not our objective when we go on strike in our establishments, what we would like is for the management to judge the economic consequences for the company and say ‘we leave the quotas and go to the negotiation’”. she added.
If the group recognizes difficulties in “some stations”, due to an increase in attendance of “30% compared to the month of September”, it assures “that there is no shortage of fuel because TotalEnergies has established stocks and currently imports regularly”. “Despite the social movements, the replenishment of our stations continues within the framework of the price reduction operation,” he adds, indicating that he resorts to additional logistical means.
Suspended movement on Donges and Grandpuits
The movement is renewed in the La Mède agro-refinery (Bouches-du-Rhône), as in the Normandy refineries, near Le Havre, whose closure began for security reasons, or Feyzin, in the Lyon agglomeration. Instead, at the Donges refinery (Loire-Atlantique) it is suspended “until the beginning of next week”, as well as at the Grandpuits fuel depot, according to Eric Sellini.
The strikers want to get a pay raise by 2022, taking inflation into account. Management refers to a negotiation meeting scheduled for mid-November. “It is to talk about 2023. What we would like is to solve the problem of 2022 and the recovery of inflation beforehand,” explained Eric Sellini.
The CGT asks for a 10% salary increase by 2022, the “unfreezing of hiring” in France and “a massive investment plan” in France, claims already at the origin of movements on June 24 and July 28. In the event of a real stoppage of the Normandy refinery, there would only be two refineries in operation at the eight sites in France -six refineries and two biorefineries-, the others also being affected by strikes or stoppages for work or maintenance operations, according to the CGT.
“7.5% minimum overall increase”
A strike for a wage increase, renewed on Thursday night, has affected the two French refineries of the Esso-ExxonMobil group in the Seine-Maritime and Bouches-du-Rhône departments for ten days, according to the group’s CGT, which states “a minimum of 7.5% overall increase”. In the case of the French hydrocarbons giant, as in that of its US competitor, the unions periodically highlight the colossal profits reaped in recent months, in a context of rising oil prices.
TotalEnergies thus announced on Wednesday an additional investment of billions of dollars in renewable energy, but also several billion in bonuses for its shareholders.
Source: BFM TV
