Photo taken on October 15, 2022 showing a petrol pump marked “empty diesel”, in Paris (AFP / Christophe ARCHAMBAULT)
The strike continues Monday in the refineries and depots of TotalEnergies despite threats of new requisitions at the start of a high-risk week marked by an interprofessional movement on Tuesday and the first departures on vacation on Friday.
The fuel shortage did not seem to be easing on Sunday, the figures released in the evening showing a worsening of the situation for service stations: 30.1% were considered to be in difficulty against 27.3% the day before, due to fewer deliveries. on weekends, according to the government.
“My 91-year-old father couldn’t see himself queuing for an hour,” Virginie told AFP at a station in the Fives district of Lille, filling up with diesel for her parents.
In his region 23.4% of the stations lacked at least one of their products against 22% on Saturday. This rate was much higher and on the rise in Ile-de-France (41.6% against 39.9%) and in Centre-Val-de-Loire (42.8% against 36.4%).
The situation was also tense in Bourgogne Franche-Comté and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. In Lyon, Serge Almodovar, 56, an almost empty tank, had spotted an “open” station on a site which turned out to be closed: “I take that with philosophy. Fortunately we are not working today”.
– “Impact on the economy” –
Difficulties in getting to work, concern in rural areas in the midst of harvest and sowing, fear of disruptions in vacation departures and cancellations: the consequences on many sectors of activity are being felt.
Refineries and main oil depots in mainland France (AFP/Sabrina BLANCHARD)
Faced with this blockage after nearly three weeks on strike, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne brandished the threat of new “requisitions” of employees in the event of “very tense situations”.
On the set of the 20H television news on TF1, she raised her voice by asking the striking employees of TotalEnergies “to respect the majority agreement and not to block the country with all the difficulties that this creates”.
Before her, it was Gabriel Attal, Minister of Public Accounts, who stepped up to the plate in the morning, judging “unacceptable that there is the continuation of blockages”.
The president of Medef, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, who was interviewed on Radio J, called for requisitions, considering that “the 150 people from the refineries are taking the French hostages”. According to the boss of bosses, an additional week of shortage, “it could really have an impact on the economy”.
– Extended discount –
Currently, the strikes concern three refineries (out of seven) and five large depots (out of approximately 200) and are more or less followed according to the sites of TotalEnergies, according to the government. These are those of Normandy (refinery and depot), Donges (refinery and depot), La Mède (biorefinery and depot), Flandres (depot) and Feyzin (depot, the refinery being shut down for technical reasons).
Motorists queue in front of a gas station in Blois on October 14, 2022 (AFP / GUILLAUME SOUVANT)
Only one TotalEnergies depot, that of Flanders near Dunkirk, was the subject of a requisition launched Thursday by the government. The northern prefecture told AFP on Sunday that there would be no requisition order taken for the night of Sunday to Monday on this deposit.
While the strike drastically increased prices at the pump, the Prime Minister announced the extension of the rebate of 30 cents, assuring that TotalEnergies would “also” extend its rebate of 20 cents. State-funded aid was to drop to 10 cents from November 1.
An agreement on wage increases had been concluded overnight from Thursday to Friday with two majority unions of TotalEnergies, the CFDT and the CFE-CGC.
It provides for an overall “envelope” of 7% wage increases, including a 5% increase for workers and technicians and 3.5% for executives, plus an individual share which may differ depending on the person. It also provides for a bonus of one month’s salary, with a floor of 3,000 euros and a ceiling of 6,000 euros.
The CGT continues to claim 10% corresponding to “inflation plus sharing” of the profits made by the oil company, namely 5.7 billion dollars for the second quarter alone (5.8 billion euros). The union intends to continue the movement until Tuesday, a day of interprofessional “mobilization and strike” to which FO, Solidaires and the FSU have also called.
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© 2022 AFP
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