It is done. A salary agreement at the national level was found Friday, October 21 at EDF, between management and several unions, after several weeks of mobilization in the nuclear fleet, learned Agence France-Presse (AFP) from the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and Force Ouvrière (FO).
At this announcement, employees of the Gravelines nuclear power plant (North), the most powerful in Western Europe, voted on Friday to suspend their strike movement until Monday, believing that management had responded to the demands , told AFP Franck Redondo, FO secretary of the social and economic council of the central.
EDF management has proposed a 5% increase for low salaries up to supervisors, he said. Management was offered a 2.5% increase accompanied by bonuses, the amount of which remains to be finalized. These general increases will be accompanied by individual advancements of 2.45%, according to the same source.
“This agreement tends to respond strongly to the demands that were those of the CGT”approaching an increase for all of 120 euros gross per month, underlined Julien Lambert, federal secretary of the FNME-CGT.
“Keep up the pressure”
This agreement, which comes on the second day of national wage negotiations, must still be ratified by the trade unions and be submitted to the consultation of the personnel of each site. In Gravelines, a new vote must decide on Monday to end the strike, if this agreement is ratified by then. “If the agreement is confirmed on Monday, for us the file is closed, everyone gets back to work and we wet our shirts to connect the power stations to the network for the French, in complete safety”said Mr. Redondo.
In Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux (Loir-et-Cher), the CGT suspended the movement pending the opinion of members. At the Moselle power station of Cattenom, “the movement continues for the moment, the employees want to maintain a certain pressure as long as the agreement is not signed”according to a union source.
Started on September 13, the strike movement spread over the weeks, until Friday morning affecting twelve power plants out of the eighteen of the French nuclear fleet. A strike notice is announced in Flamanville (Seine-Maritime) for 9 p.m., according to the communication service of the plant.
The strike is causing delays in the schedule of works and maintenance in the nuclear fleet, raising fears of tensions on the electricity network in the heart of winter. On Friday, across the country, four reactors experienced a drop in production while maintenance work was blocked on eighteen reactors, France with fifty-six in total, Julien Lambert told AFP.