UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – Situation slightly improving in service stations, extension of the strike to other sectors, threat to the All Saints holidays: Le Figaro takes stock of the fuel shortages that have affected the country for more than two weeks.
25 days already. While the queues are multiplying in service stations in search of fuel, running out following the blockages of the TotalEnergies and Esso refineries by the CGT for more than three weeks, the movement could well drag on. If, Thursday evening, despite everything, the situation in the resorts improved slightly, the threat still weighs on the All Saints holidays which begin in ten days. The wage issue being at the heart of the strikers’ demands, the CGT called on other sectors of activity, such as SNCF and RATP railway workers or public service personnel, to participate in the “interprofessional day of strike and demonstrationTuesday, October 18.
The situation continues to improve at gas stations
The proportion of service stations in difficulty fell below 30% at 5 p.m. Thursday. Across the national territory, at least one fuel is missing in 29.1% of the stations, against 30.8% yesterday at the same time, according to the Ministry of Energy Transition. The decline is more impressive in the Hauts-de-France region, which was particularly affected at the start of the strike movement. At 5 p.m., 31.7% of service stations are in difficulty compared to almost 43% yesterday. In Île-de-France, more than a third of service stations remained short of at least one product at 5 p.m. Thursday (38.8% against 41.9% the day before).
Read alsoFuels: the situation continues to improve at service stations
Salary negotiations
The TotalEnergies group and two majority unions seemed on Friday to agree on a wage increase in the group, but the CGT, at the origin of the work stoppage which caused a rare shortage of gasoline in France, refused any agreement and promised to continue the strike.
Under pressure from the government and a strike that has lasted 18 days, the management of the oil group had invited the four representative unions to negotiate urgently overnight from Thursday to Friday. It was only at 3:30 a.m. that the representatives of the two reformist unions CFDT and CFE-CGC left the headquarters of TotalEnergies in La Défense to announce that they were in favor of the management’s latest proposal, according to them 7% salary increase and 3000 to 6000 euros bonus.
«The CFDT negotiation team gives a favorable opinion on the measures that are on the table“, declared Geoffrey Caillon, CFDT coordinator. The opinion is alsorather favorableat the CFE-CGC, according to its coordinator Dominique Convert. Each union will now consult its members to decide whether or not to sign the offer, before Friday noon. “We submitted an agreement for signature before noon“, confirmed Namita Shah, member of the executive committee of TotalEnergies, without corroborating the figure of 7%, which is higher than the 6% proposed Thursday.
The CGT had already left the building, not without having preventively denounced the agreement of the two other unions, with 56% representativeness between them. “It will not change the state of mind and the determination of the strikers“, predicted Alexis Antonioli, now hoping “the generalization of the movement.»
Read alsoFuels: the government urges TotalEnergies to increase wages, the group proposes a 6% increase
The CGT tries to spread the conflict
While the end of the blockage was sounded Thursday at the Esso-ExxonMobil refinery in Fos-sur-Mer, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, the strike was renewed a few minutes later, at the other end of the country, in the he other Esso-ExxonMobil refinery, in Gravenchon-Port-Jérôme, near Le Havre. “Discussions are still ongoing between management and trade unions”, reports a spokesperson for Esso-ExxonMobil. Same determination to continue the blockages in the refineries of TotalEnergies.
Faced with requisitions drawn by the government to counter the strike in the oil industry, the CGT decided on Thursday, with FO, Solidaires, FSU as well as youth movements, to organize a day of “mobilization and strike” interprofessional meeting on Tuesday October 18, despite the dissatisfaction of part of the public.
Anticipating this announcement from the power stations, education, railway, nuclear and civil service unions have already announced that they would take part in this movement. The vocational high schools were already called to a movement against the reform which concerns them. A note from territorial intelligence, revealed by The Parisian fears a «contagionamong dockers, port agents, or employees in the automotive sector.
Read alsoFuels: the CGT tries to extend the conflict
Appeal against requisitions at Esso-ExxonMobil: decision expected Friday morning
The CGT’s interim appeal challenging the requisition of personnel on the Esso-ExxonMobil site in Port-Jérôme (Seine-Maritime) was deliberated on Friday morning, 10 a.m. “The decision will relate to the new decree which was taken (Thursday) morning by the prefect” of Seine-Maritime, explained to AFP Me Emmanuel Gayat. This text, identical to the previous decree, taken on Wednesday evening, also provides for the requisition of two employees per shift.
Recalling the “indisputable” freedom of the right to strike, Maître Emmanuel Gayat pleaded “the lack of consultation on the definitions of a minimum serviceon the Port-Jérôme site, whose depot was the first to be targeted by staff requisitions on Wednesday.
Threat to the All Saints holidays
Will the French be able to go on All Saints vacation? With one week to go until the holidays begin on Friday, October 21, no visible improvement seems to be taking shape at service stations still facing fuel shortages. And concern begins to rise on the side of motorists.
Read alsoFuel shortage, SNCF strike … Threats to the All Saints holidays