Faced with a strike, Exxon launches the gradual shutdown of its Fos-sur-Mer refinery | Photo credits: EDF – DIDIER MARC
PARIS, July 1 (Reuters) – Exxon said on Friday it had begun preparations to gradually shut down its Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône) refinery in the coming days, due to a strike over price hikes. salaries at the call of the CGT.
Wage negotiations are scheduled for September, but the unions are urging management to act without delay in the face of the soaring cost of living. The CGT claims the payment of a bonus.
“We remain confident that the situation will be resolved through dialogue,” the company said in a statement.
Exxon’s site in Fos has a refining capacity of 7 million tonnes per year, which corresponds to around 10% of national capacity, according to the company.
The walkouts are part of broader industrial action that this week affected other companies in the energy sector in France, such as state-owned EDF.
ExxonMobil employs some 2,600 people in France. (Report Benjamin Mallet, written by Myriam Rivet and Sophie Louet, edited by Tangi Salaün)