In a Press release dated October 10, the management of TotalEnergies affirms that “the average remuneration levels of TotalEnergies refining operators in France” are from “5000 euros”. Several commentators were moved by this, implying that such a level of salary tarnished the legitimacy of the strikers to fight for their salaries. On France Interthe “liberal” editorialist Dominique Seux launched in his column: “There is no question of saying that these salaries are too high in relation to the qualification and the positions occupied: we will not allow ourselves to pass such a judgment – even if I have a small idea of the reaction of our listeners when they hear these figures! »
In a call for evidence on the fuel shortage published on Lemonde.frseveral readers judged “shameful” the mobilization of refinery operators, using the high level of remuneration communicated by TotalEnergies.
At the origin of the strike movement in the refineries of the French oil group, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) digested the group’s communication very badly. “We do not know where this figure comes from.annoys Thierry Defresne, CGT secretary of the European works council TotalEnergies SE. These are social data that do not exist, wet finger figures that are published only to smear the strikers. »
Hakim Belouz, Force Ouvrière (FO) union representative at TotalEnergies, also believes that the group’s management is trying to “incite public opinion against employees”. Geoffrey Caillon, delegate of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT) – a union that did not take part in the strike movement – also regrets the communication from management, which “takes the whole of France to witness to show that our salaries are not so low” and “will not tend to calm the spirits”.
What does this figure of 5,000 euros per month refer to?
We must first recall a few details: the amount of 5,000 euros gross monthly put forward by the hydrocarbon giant corresponds, according to him, to the gross monthly remuneration “workers and supervisors” refineries and notably includes hardship, incentive and profit-sharing bonuses.
Excluding profit-sharing and participation bonuses – which, due to the company’s good results, averaged 9,100 euros in 2022 – TotalEnergies says that the average monthly remuneration of a refinery operator is 4,300 euros. raw.
Several CGT union officials quickly denied these figures. Emmanuel Lépine, Secretary General of the National Federation of Chemical Industries (FNIC-CGT), thus assured with RTL than the average salary of a refinery operator “is around 3,000 euros”recalling also that it was about “very high-skilled positions”.
In a video posted on Twitter, Adrien Cornet, CGT delegate and employee of the Total refinery in Grandpuits (Seine-et-Marne), rather evokes an average of 2,500 euros. He insists in particular on the fact that these salaries include several bonuses linked to the arduous nature of the job, with teams posted to “Three times eight o’clock, [6 heures-14 heures, 14 heures- 22 heures et 22 heures-6 heures] who work three out of five weekends and breathe in fuel and chemicals”.
The collective agreement for the oil industry provides for shift bonuses of an amount equal to 18% of the salary, excluding bonuses, for “continuous shift workers who belong to successive shifts working permanently on a twenty-four hour rotation, without interruption at night, on Sundays and on public holidays”.
According to the French Union of Petroleum Industries, Energies and Mobility (Ufipem), the basic salary of an employee at the start of their career in a refining company is close to 2,200 euros gross per month, to which is added a shift bonus. around 540 euros. Or 2,740 euros gross per month at the start of your career.
For an employee with nearly twenty years of seniority, the base salary is approximately 3,600 euros gross, to which must be added nearly 1,200 euros in bonuses (including the shift and seniority bonus, at 1% per year of seniority). Or a gross monthly salary of 4,800 euros after twenty years of career. Ufipem also notes “that 85% of employees in the branch have a real salary that is more than 10% higher than the conventional minimums”. The monthly 5,000 euros advanced by TotalEnergies thus seem much closer to the salary of a very experienced refinery operator than that of an average employee.
“Up to what salary level do we have the right to fight for our purchasing power? »
In any case, the figures published by the group’s management do not say much about the salary reality in its French refineries, an average being able to hide wide disparities between employees. Contacted, the company did not respond to our requests concerning the median salary in its refineries.
The union officials contacted also did not wish to communicate the precise figures for remuneration, claiming that they did not want to fall into the trap set by their management.
In fact, they all recall that TotalEnergies employees are demanding higher wages given the good results of the company, which earned 10.6 billion dollars (10.9 billion euros) in profit in the first half of 2022. and recently paid its shareholders an exceptional interim dividend of 2.62 billion euros.
The CGT is demanding a 10% wage increase, including 7% for inflation and 3% for the sharing of wealth. “Up to what salary level do we have the right to fight for our purchasing power?asks Thierry Defresne. Our labor force is worth less in 2022 than in 2021, and we should accept that? Do we have to eat rats to have the right to complain about inflation? » His FO colleague Hakim Belouz agrees: “Even though our salary would be high, would that be a concern? Is there a law that prohibits striking above 5,000 euros monthly? »