Despite the threat of requisitions brandished on Tuesday by Elisabeth Borne, the strikers of the oil groups decided, Wednesday, October 12, to continue their movement for better wages, making it very difficult for many French people to supply them with fuel.
Faced with the continuation of the strike at the Esso-ExxonMobil facilities, and despite an agreement reached on Monday, the requisition of personnel at the Port-Jérôme-Gravenchon depot has been launched, the energy transition ministry announced on Wednesday.
The CGT of TotalEnergies is demanding a 10% increase in wages for 2022, against the 3.5% obtained at the start of the year. If there are requisitions, “we will go to court to have them canceled”warned his union coordinator Eric Sellini, while the CGT of Esso-ExxonMobil denounced “a questioning of the right to strike”.
To better understand the situation, Marjorie Cessac and Aline Leclerc, journalists at World, answered your questions in a chat.
Fantômas: How long for a return to normal if the deposits are unblocked?
Marjorie Cessac: According to the government, a resumption of work in the depots could lead to a fairly rapid improvement. “The deposits are full, the challenge is just to unlock them”we explain to the Ministry of Energy Transition, specifying that the subject is that of “routing”. Some trade unionists, however, mention the fact that it is not possible to refuel tankers in the evening or at night. The restarting of refineries should, on the other hand, take at least two to three weeks before they return to normal activity.
Social lawyer: Why do we fail to say that blocking sites is illegal?
Aline Leclerc: There is, in fact, a right to strike, but not to blockade, and Elisabeth Borne, then Minister of Transport, recalled this in 2020 during the tensions of the time, as reported by Agence France- Hurry.
But in the case that concerns us, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) refutes any blockage: there are no barricades, and non-strikers can work as they want. What ” blocked “ the exit of the fuel, it is the fact that the agents who occupy the key positions to allow this, are on strike. The precise terms of the strike are also negotiated internally so that all facilities remain safe, some strikers may be ” required “ on site to allow this (be careful, this has nothing to do with the requisitions launched by the government, these are the terms of the strike in these sensitive installations).
For the CGT, the use of the term “blocking” by the management of Total as well as by the government is a way of passing on the unacceptable. “To say ‘we don’t negotiate in the face of a blockage’ goes better than saying ‘we don’t negotiate in the face of a strike’ which would make no sense! »told us yesterday evening Thierry Defresne, of the CGT Total.
Jc: Does the army have the right to requisition refineries? How is the power of prefects exercised?
CM: In terms of administrative law, in particular under article L.2215-1 4° of the general code of local authorities, the prefect may, by reasoned decree, “requisition any property or service, require any person necessary for the operation of this service or the use of this property”as well as “prescribe any useful measure, until the breach of public order [prenne] end “.
However, as lawyer Adrien Fourmon (Jeantet firm) specifies, the administration can only take strictly proportionate measures, imposed by urgency and proportionate to the needs of public order.
In an order dated October 22, 2010, the interim relief judge of the Administrative Court of Melun, during the blocking of refineries linked to strikes as part of the pension reform, specified: “By requisitioning almost all the staff of the Total Grandpuits refinery with a view not only to supplying priority vehicles with fuel, but also to supplying all kinds of petroleum products to all of the refinery’s customers, in the purpose of allowing companies in the department to continue their activities, and then, moreover, that the representative of the prefect declared at the hearing that service stations in the department were already reserved for the benefit of emergency and rescue vehicles, the decree had the effect of establishing a normal service within the establishment and not the minimum service required solely for the purposes of public order and safety. » (Trib. adm. Melun, ord. 22 Oct. 2010, General Confederation of Labor – Confederation of Trade Unions and Others, noh 1007329/6.).
MC: I don’t know how much people on strike earn but certainly more than a nurse or a teacher, so how can you justify that they still want a piece of this big pie?
AL: Many of you ask us this question about salaries. This is, in fact, the communication strategy chosen by TotalEnergies this weekend: to ensure that these refiners win “5000 euros”. Many journalists, including our Decoders team, have worked on the subject to try to answer your questions. [article des Décodeurs accessible en ligne grâce au lien suivant].
It’s a complicated question. First, because we don’t really know what these 5,000 euros include: are we mixing salary, profit-sharing, bonuses? Here are the data that Ufipem, the French Union of Petroleum Industries, Energy, Mobility, was able to give us, which therefore represents the professional sector of oil: the basic salary of an employee at the start of his career in a refining company is close to 2,200 euros gross per month, plus a shift bonus of 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. 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.
But, beyond the figures, this ” debate “ on wages raises political and even moral questions: we are talking about employees who work as a team, therefore turn three-eight shifts, work at night, on weekends, in dangerous conditions, and who are asked for technical skills and expertise, all in a group that makes astronomical profits. Is there a fair level of wages in this case? And beyond: is there a salary level beyond which it is considered that an employee is not entitled to fight for his purchasing power? “To date, our workforce in 2022 is paid less than in 2021, and we should accept that? »asks an employee.
I let everyone find the answer they think is right to this question.
Pourmoiavant: Do you know how many people in total are on strike?
AL: It is difficult to know, because the strike must be renewed by a vote of the employees at the start of each shift. The employees of the refineries and depots in fact work the three-eight shifts (6 a.m. to 2 p.m., 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. and 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.), each time preceded by a vote; another being organized at noon, in general assembly. Moreover, the strike is organized so that only a small number of workers have to go on strike while maintaining the deadlock (remember that the strike costs days of wages to the strikers).
Céline A.: Where can you find reliable and up-to-date information on fuel availability at service stations?
CM: The situation is developing differently depending on the region. The government, through Olivier Véran, its spokesperson, has just confirmed that requisitions would take place today at the ExxonMobil depot in Port-Jérôme-Gravenchon (Seine-Maritime), an essential site for the supply service stations in Ile-de-France. The government does not rule out extending this measure to other sites either, in particular that of the Flanders depot (TotalEnergies), next to Dunkirk, which supplies the Hauts-de-France.
At TotalEnergies, management for its part announced that it intended to meet individually with each trade union organization in the afternoon. She also asserts that“She will receive the CGT to discuss the refining situation in France and the lifting of blockages”.