Thursday, only two sites of TotalEnergies were still paralyzed by the strike.
All the refineries and all the fuel depots in France came out of the strike, except two. On Thursday, only the TotalEnergies refineries in Gonfreville, Normandy, and Feyzin near Lyon (shutdown for maintenance) were still blocked by CGT strikers. The movement was even renewed for a week, until the publication of the group’s quarterly results on October 27.
An agreement comprising an envelope of salary increases of 7% as well as bonuses of between 3000 and 6000 euros was signed last Friday by unions (CFDT and CFE-CGC) representing a majority of employees. But the CGT demands a revaluation of 10%. The fact that the “convergence of struggles” did not take place during the interprofessional day on Tuesday, with a rather weak mobilization, did not modify the attitude of the union. “The Chemistry Federation is one of the hardest at the CGT, we come across the last Stalinist fossils there.explains an expert in social relations. She is still part of the World Federation of Trade Unions where she rubs shoulders with North Koreans and Cubans. Its ultimate objective is not to obtain a rise in wages, but to break the capitalist system.
Read alsoFuel: which departments have suffered the most since the start of the shortage?
The Normandy and Lyon strikers find themselves very isolated today. The employees of the Donges refinery (Loire-Atlantique), who entered the movement late, voted to resume work on Tuesday evening, and those of the giant Dunkirk depot resumed their jobs on Wednesday evening.
According to an Odoxa survey for Backbone and Le Figaro, the shortage caused by the strike penalized three quarters of the French, who mostly condemn the movement. And for good reason, the entire fuel supply was severely disrupted, with nearly a third of service stations partially or completely out of fuel at the height of the shortage last week.
However, things have improved since Wednesday. According to the government, only 17% of service stations are still experiencing difficulties. “We feel that we have passed the hardest part”, abounds Nicolas Ducrot, managing director of Thévenin & Ducrot, which operates under the Avia brand alongside the Picoty company. The government has also finally taken the measure of the crisis. Two trains leaving the Fos-sur-Mer refinery, filled with diesel and fuel oil, were to arrive in Dijon on Tuesday, in the middle of a national strike day. The SNCF first warned the distributors that it was obliged to cancel the train for force majeure. But the State made it clear that the convoy had priority… and the train finally arrived at its destination, relieving the Burgundian distribution networks which have been particularly affected in recent days.
Rural stations penalized
The situations remain highly variable depending on the type of service station. Operators are indeed subject to public service obligations for motorway stations, which are also equipped with larger reservoirs. On Wednesday, Vinci Autoroutes announced that 90% of its stations were working. Rural resorts, on the other hand, suffered from this priority given to major axes. Not all fuels are in the same boat either. Thanks to better stocked reserves at the start of the crisis, France ran out of diesel less, while tensions still remain on gasoline.
Read alsoFuels: the price of diesel jumped another 12 cents last week
Looking in the rear view mirror, industry professionals all talk about «l’oil run»or the race for fuel, to explain the extent of the shortage observed over the past seven days. “It’s like the rush for toilet paper during the first confinement”, illustrates Nicolas Ducrot. And to tell how a panicked pensioner who wanted to fill his jerrycans despite the prefectural ban went so far as to take out his gun under the nose of a cashier.
SEE ALSO – Fuel: “The end of the strike has been announced” at the Donges refinery