After the signing, on October 17, of a branch agreement in the energy sector, it is now up to companies to negotiate internal measures to offset inflation. At EDF, an agreement recently put an end to work stoppages in nuclear power plants, but negotiations are stalling at GRDF, where the CGT is calling for a one-day strike on Wednesday November 2, on the sidelines of a new negotiation meeting, while that at Enedis, an inter-union made up of the CGT, CFE-CGC, CFDT and FO invites employees to strike Thursday.
The CGT, the company’s leading union, is demanding a 4.6% increase for all for 2022 and 2.3% in 2023, as well as individual and additional measures for low wages.
The management of Enedis says it has proposed an increase of 2.3% for all employees, in addition to the increase in the branch salary and individual measures, all representing a “overall 7% salary increase budget”. She adds that a “a mid-year review clause has also been proposed if inflation turns out to be higher than forecast”.
The CGT considers the offer of GRDF insufficient
Concerning GRDF, only the CGT, the company’s leading trade union organization (46.58% during the last elections), is calling for a strike on Wednesday 2 November.
During two negotiation sessions, on October 25 and 27, “We got something back, but it’s not enough”, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Sébastien Raya, CGT central delegate. GRDF proposed “to add 2.3%” to the branch agreement “and we are demanding 4.6%”, he specified. GRDF management could not be reached immediately.
For Mr. Raya, distribution employees, “whether at Enedis or GRDF, are the poor relations” of these wage negotiations, compared to the employees of GRT-Gaz (gas transmission network) or nuclear power plants, who won their case, given the threat that their strikes posed to energy supplies this winter.