Dry pumps at a service station in Marseille, October 6, 2022 (AFP / Nicolas TUCAT)
Call for “responsibility”: the head of government Elisabeth Borne on Friday called on the management and unions of the oil groups to come out of the crisis and put an end to the strikes which have been causing serious supply problems for several days.
“I really call on the management and employee representatives of these companies to take responsibility so that these wage negotiations – since that’s what it’s all about – succeed and do not penalize the French”, declared the first Minister following an intervention in Bordeaux, during the Convention of intermunicipalities of France.
A little earlier, many ministers tried to reason with the actors of the conflict and in particular TotalEnergies.
“I call on the companies concerned, which, for the most part, still have good results, to also consider requests for a salary increase”, declared Olivia Grégoire, Minister Delegate for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, on Franceinfo, without name TotalEnergies and its $10.6 billion first-half profit.
CEO Patrick Pouyanné did not speak publicly about the strike, but in an internal group video on Tuesday, he acknowledged that “the Company’s results are exceptional in 2022 and we will not forget you”.
“All employees, all our colleagues will receive their just reward on their payslip before the end of the year”, promised Mr. Pouyanné, assuring them that they were “priority in the sharing of prosperity”.
While the CGT is demanding a 10% increase in 2022 – 7% for inflation, 3% for “wealth sharing” – management has been recalling from the start that it has granted wage measures representing an average increase. 3.5% in 2022 and refers to a negotiation session scheduled for November 15… for wages in 2023.
At the latest news, she seemed inflexible on this timetable and reluctant to return to the negotiating table immediately.
The largest TotalEnergies refinery, near Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), is shut down. Other sites of the group are on strike. And the two French refineries of its American competitor Esso-ExxonMobil are also shut down, in both cases at the call of the CGT, in order to obtain a wage increase.
– “Significant difficulties” –
Tanker trucks will be exceptionally authorized to circulate on Sunday to deliver the stations, announced the Minister Delegate for Transport, Clément Beaune, on LCI.
At the French oil company, in addition to its Normandy refinery, the strikers were massively mobilized at the fuel depot in Flanders, near Dunkirk (North), at the “bio-refinery” in La Mède (Bouches-du-Rhône) and at the depot of fuels from Grandpuits (Seine-et-Marne) in particular, to limit the outflow of petroleum products as much as possible, according to the CGT.
At the Feyzin refinery (Rhône), there were “between 80 and 100% strikers” in the strategic shipping department, Pedro Afonso (CGT) told AFP.
Blockades by strikers lead to lower fuel deliveries, so petrol stations are more often out of stocks of petrol or diesel. TotalEnergies manages almost a third of French stations.
But the group also puts the disturbances on the account of the success of the discount at the pump of 20 cents which it grants since September 1, in addition to the rebate of the State of 30 cents.
Currently, 15% of service stations are affected by a lack of one or more fuels, according to a figure quoted by several ministers.
The behavior of certain motorists has prompted the State to prohibit the sale and purchase of fuel in jerrycans and drums, in particular in certain departments of Hauts-de-France, where TotalEnergies stations and its competitors have been taken assault.
Sometimes, it is the managers of the stations themselves who are the police, as in this Agip service station in the chic districts of Marseille, Friday, where a long queue of motorists were ready to do anything to fill their tank.
“It’s been like this since 5 a.m. and for several days,” says Ali Mansoibou, who runs the station and who limited the passage to the pump to 30 euros per person. “I was delivered this morning, but there will be nothing left this weekend,” he said.
In order to calm the situation, the government has occasionally activated the use of strategic state stocks in the most affected regions.
© 2022 AFP
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