This announcement, which concerns the fuel depot, comes a few hours after workers at the ExxonMobil refinery voted to renew the strike.
Faced with the resumption of the strike, the government carried out its threats. This Wednesday morning, the executive announced the launch of the requisition of personnel “essential to the functioning of the depositof Exxon-Mobil, in Port-Jérôme. A decision taken a few hours after the strikers announced the continuation of the mobilization on the spot.
On Tuesday, however, the movement had weakened on the spot. The threat of personnel requisitions, brandished by the Prime Minister, may have deterred some workers from continuing their mobilization. “Expedition activity resumed yesterday afternoon at 2 p.m.“, assures the Ministry of Energy Transition. “A resumption of work was noted this afternoon“, we said last night, from the same source, even welcoming a “resumption of dialogue within the company».
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Then, at the end of the day, after a few hours of “floating“, in the words of Christophe Aubert, CGT central union representative, the strike resumed with a vengeance, again disrupting activity at 10 p.m. Information confirmed by the executive. Rebelote this morning, with the vote to continue the strike on Wednesday, unanimously by the fifty or so people present. What push the executive to start the showdown.
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A legal battle in sight
The executive hopes that the requisition of the people essential to the proper functioning of the depot will allow it to be put back into operation quickly. The orders necessary to requisition the workers concerned will be effective “during the day“, we specify on the side of the government: “Depending on the time of notification, the requisition may take effect as of today“, we add. In theory, only a limited number of employees – “two or three per deposit– should be concerned, noted the Ministry of Energy Transition, Tuesday evening. As these people are the subject of individual administrative acts, the orders will not be published.
The trade unions, for their part, stand ready to “to fight»against these decisions: the prefectural decrees can be challenged before the administrative courts, which Christophe Aubert assures us that he wants to do. “It’s an attack on the right to strike, we’re going to fight, put in place interim measures“, he warns on Wednesday. For its part, the executive holds, at 11:15 a.m., an interministerial crisis committee, bringing together all the ministries concerned by the strike and its consequences.
The Port-Jérôme site is of particular importance, says the executive: located between Le Havre and Rouen, it should make it possible to quickly supply Île-de-France, thus limiting shortages. The too temporary resumption of work, Tuesday, did not make it possible to relieve the capital region: at the end of the day, yesterday, 44% of the stations of the territory encountered supply difficulties for at least one fuel. A figure comparable to that of Hauts-de-France – 44.8% – and higher than the national average – 31.3%. It remains to be seen whether the requisition order will be respected by the personnel concerned, and how long it will take before the situation improves.
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