Despite increasing pressure from the government, the strike action for wages at TotalEnergies, which has been going on for 15 days and is causing shortages in more than a third of service stations in France, was renewed Monday until Tuesday and extended directly to about fifteen motorway service stations of the Argedis network, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies. An emergency meeting with several ministers was organized Monday evening at Matignon.
The movement expands
Despite repeated calls from the government to negotiate on wages and to end the blockades, the CGT and the management of TotalEnergies have not been able to reach an agreement. The strike also continues in the two French refineries of Esso-ExxonMobil, after a meeting with the management described as “inconclusive” by Christophe Aubert, central CGT union representative. It has even made a splash in about fifteen motorway service stations of the Argedis network, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies.
At 6 p.m. Monday, 29.4% of service stations were in difficulty at the national level (against 29.7% at 3 p.m. Sunday), indicated the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher. “If a slight improvement is observed in Hauts-de-France, going from 54.8% yesterday to 48.4% today, and in Île-de-France, going from 44.9% yesterday to 33.9 % today, other difficulties are appearing on the territory, including in areas which are not affected by the current social movement such as the Atlantic coast, ”indicates the ministry in a press release.
According to Thierry Defresne, CGT secretary of the TotalEnergies European committee, 15 service stations in the Argedis network “will be closed” on Tuesday. The stations of Paisy (A6, Rhône), Montluel (Ain), Ceignes (A40 motorway, Ain), Lançon-Provence (A7, Bouches-du-Rhône), will be particularly affected, as well as others in the Paris region, near of Rouen and in the region of Strasbourg.
Macron’s push
Three days after intervening from Prague, Emmanuel Macron again called on the management of the oil groups and the unions on Monday to “responsibility”. “Blocking is not a way of negotiating”, judged the president, wishing “that a solution can be found”, and “a rapid conclusion of the negotiations”. “I call on all the companies concerned and the employees to have a spirit of responsibility”, he added, during a trip to Château-Gontier (Mayenne).
“Salary negotiations are all legitimate and it is not for me to judge. But they (the parties) must find a conclusion so that it is not our compatriots who are the victims”, according to him. Because, he continued, “we must not be in a country where we consider that it is up to the government to do everything”. “I hear you every day say we need social dialogue, we need social dialogue » and « it’s a little easy to say that, as soon as there is a problem, it is the fault of the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister or the ministers ».
“I have asked the Prime Minister and the competent ministers to discuss with the officials concerned, the companies and the unions”, he added, believing that the government had “been right to put pressure on all the actors”.
Borne and four ministers meet urgently
At 9 p.m., precisely, Elisabeth Borne brought together four ministers to “take stock of the state of discussions” between companies and unions. “I hope the situation recovers as soon as possible,” said the Prime Minister to the media from Algierswhere she was traveling, accompanied by a delegation of 15 ministers.
Asked about the possibility of requisitions to ensure a supply, the head of government replied that she would take stock “on the state of the discussions and the way in which we can assure the French and the French that there will indeed be a resupply service stations as quickly as possible. “It is in the negotiation (…) that we must be able to find a solution, and not by blocking the country and the French”, she further pleaded.