“The risk of a cut this winter seems to be on the decline,” said government spokesman Olivier Véran on Wednesday about possible power cuts. But perhaps he did not have his eyes turned towards Guadeloupe: embroiled in a social conflict for several weeks, EDF Insular Electric Production began temporary cuts on Friday, depriving electricity “35,000 customers” on the island .
Electrical load shedding consists of temporarily cutting off electricity on part of the network to avoid saturation due to excessive demand. The supplier said it planned “rotating power cuts of one to two hours at peak consumption” on Friday evening.
Interruptions already take place regularly at peak hours due in particular to a movement of agents from the Jarry diesel thermal power plant (211 MW of capacity) launched on December 19. It is the largest electricity production facility on the island, highly dependent on fossil fuels.
A dialogue interrupted on January 3
The energy branch of the CGT Guadeloupe (CGTG) denounces “serious failures by the employer in respect of the Labor Code”, explained its secretary general, Jimmy Télémaque. The latter indicates that he “seized the labor inspectorate to come and see these shortcomings” and affirms that the management “only agreed to discuss once the engines of the diesel plant stopped”.
Several phases of negotiations have already taken place, but the dialogue was abruptly broken off on January 3 by the management, who declared that the discussions would only resume once the plant was restarted.
The blockage “now relates to requests for salary increases while an ambitious salary agreement has just been signed on December 14 by the company with its representative trade unions”, she also added. This agreement provides for an increase of “more than 10% of the wage bill for 2023”, according to the same source.
Strike extended until January 27
However, the CGTG announced in a letter its intention to extend the strike until January 27, accusing the management of “irreverent” behavior.
Friday evening, the Minister Delegate for Overseas Jean-François Carenco asked the parties to resume a “quality social dialogue”, while the threat of recurring cuts affects the daily lives of the inhabitants of the island. The FE-CGTG however indicated that “arrangements have been made with the agents on strike to strengthen the electricity network of Guadeloupe in order to limit load shedding”.