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 3,000 to 6,000 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 also “rather favorable” to 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.
“It will not change the state of mind of the strikers”
“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, it, had already left the building, not without having preventively denounced the agreement of the two other unions, strong of 56% of representativeness between them.
“It will not change the state of mind and the determination of the strikers,” predicted Alexis Antonioli, now hoping for “the generalization of the movement. »
The refinery movement has in fact already turned into calls for a general strike, and next Tuesday should be the occasion for a big day of national strike, from transport to civil servants, following the call Thursday from four major unions (CGT, FO, Solidaires, FSU) and several youth organisations. Tuesday’s strike will particularly affect the SNCF and the RATP.
The government had pressed strongly for these negotiations to begin, and Emmanuel Macron assured that the return to normal would take place “in the course of the coming week”.
Drivers “on the razor’s edge”
In Hauts-de-France, Île-de-France and Centre-Val-de-Loire, particularly affected by the shortages created by strikes in refineries and fuel depots, motorists continued their quest for gasoline and diesel engines, chasing tanker refueling and monitoring applications. A shortage that wastes considerable time for professionals who depend on their vehicle: road hauliers, craftsmen, paramedics, etc.
“For four or five days, it’s been a disaster,” exclaims Françoise Ernst, a driving school instructor in Paris. “We can no longer work. “It’s a real problem, not just for business leaders, for everyone,” also testified Enzo Rougès, business manager in the automobile industry, at a stormed BP station in Paris. The truck drivers are “on the razor’s edge”, assures AFP the secretary general of the professional organization Otre, Jean-Marc Rivera.
Only one refinery saw the strike end on Thursday, that of Fos-sur-Mer belonging to Esso-ExxonMobil, where an agreement was signed Monday with CFDT and CFE-CGC but was rejected by the CGT. The strikers of that of Gravenchon-Port-Jérôme, on the other hand, renewed it on Thursday. Five refineries, out of seven in France, remain shut down, as well as several depots, including a huge one near Dunkirk, belonging to TotalEnergies.
Government requisitions
At 5 p.m. Thursday, 29.1% of stations lacked one or more fuels, according to the Ministry of Energy Transition, barely less than the day before (30.8%). In the Center Val-de-Loire, the proportion rises to 44.7%.
The opening of negotiations was made after the government requisitions of employees in the Esso-ExxonMobil refinery of Gravenchon in Normandy, and at the Flanders depot of TotalEnergies in Mardyck, near Dunkirk, to reopen the floodgates.
In the field, the first requisitioned employees, forced to work under penalty of criminal sanctions, made it possible to release the first stocks of fuel by pipeline (7,000 cubic meters from the Cravachons depot in Normandy in 24 hours, according to the government) and by the road (25 tankers from Dunkirk on Thursday), without incident.
To speed up the recovery, the government has again authorized tanker trucks to drive this weekend, while heavy goods vehicles are normally prohibited from driving from Saturday 10 p.m. to Sunday 10 p.m.