A meeting was held on Thursday morning at the TotalEnergies refinery in Feyzin (Rhône) between CGT strikers and management, but it did not unravel the situation, the union lamented. “A future discussion” is “promised” by the management when “the strike is lifted,” said Pedro Afonso, union delegate of the CGT in Feyzin, and regretted that this meeting gave “nothing” about wage claims, unlike the organized at the TotalEnergies refinery in Gonfreville-L’Orcher (Seine-Maritime), where the strike was lifted on Wednesday.
In a message to the press, Pedro Afonso stated that a “temporary system (monthly premium for 6 months) has been implemented by the management of the Gonfreville refinery”, and pointed out that he did not understand “why it is not implemented in Feyzin “, the latest TotalEnergies site to continue the movement that began on September 27. For the union, “this demonstrates the ruthlessness and determination of the general management not to give anything irresponsibly to the Feyzinois strikers.”
Towards a radicalization of the movement
On Wednesday, the management of TotalEnergies had “flatly denied any local agreement on wages” in Gonfreville, while the general secretary of the CGT site, Alexis Antonioli, had mentioned an agreement without specifying its content. Since the end of September, the strike continues steadily in Feyzin, with 80% of the strikers listed in the dispatch service on Thursday, who have been calling in vain since the end of October for the intervention of a mediator from the Republic.
No strike at Feyzin refinery according to management
For its part, the central management of TotalEnergies recalled that for it the negotiations were “finished” since on October 14 a “majority agreement on wages with the unions” CFDT and CFE-CGC was signed. She also believes that “the Feyzin refinery is not on strike” given that “only (there are) 5 strikers at the site which has 600 people” and that “shipments are running” without requisitions. The leadership “can say what it wants,” but “as long as we don’t have concrete, the strikers will always have an influence, without lowering their heads,” replied Pedro Afonso.
The Minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, declared on Thursday morning in the Public Senate that no request would be made in Feyzin “within 48 hours”. But “we will be monitoring the situation as closely as possible to make sure Auvergne/Rhône-Alpes and Burgundy/Franche-Comté are relieved,” she said.
Source: BFM TV
