PETROL STRIKE. While the “petrol strike” continues at TotalEnergies, an improvement in the situation is underway at Esso-ExxonMobil, after a wage agreement. What hope for an improvement at the pump as well?
The essential
- The “gasoline strike” continues this Sunday, October 16, 2022, in the five refineries of the TotalEnergies group involved in the movement, after a renewal voted on this Saturday.
- If the strike in the refineries of the Total group is maintained by the CGT, an agreement with the CFDT and the CFE-CGC has nevertheless been signed for a 7% increase in wages, from November, in addition to a bonus from 3000 to 6000 euros.
- On the other hand, the strike is coming to an end in the Esso-ExxonMobil group, after the conclusion of a wage agreement on Tuesday. But the group announced that the return to normal production on its two sites would only be effective in “two to three weeks”.
And immediately
10:45 – The continuation of the strike at Total is “unacceptable” according to Gabriel Attal
Asked by Europe 1, Sunday, October 16, the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, assures us that the continuation of the strike at Total is “unacceptable”, “even though majority agreements have been found to increase salaries”. He says he is thinking of the French “who have been experiencing difficulties for a good ten days now in order to be able to obtain supplies”.
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Metropolitan France has seven refineries on its territory. Currently, five of them, all belonging to Total, are at a standstill due to a strike action linked to demands for wage negotiations (see below). The list of refineries on strike:
Groupe Total Energies :
- Gonfreville-l’Orcher (Seine-Maritime);
- La Mede (Bouches-du-Rhône);
- Feyzin (Rhone);
- Donges (Loire-Atlantique).
- Flanders (North)
Groupe Esso-ExxonMobil :
- Strike lifted on October 14 at 2 p.m. in Port-Jérôme (Seine-Maritime)
- End of the strike in Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône) on October 13
Note that the refinery of Lavera (Bouches-du-Rhône) is not on strike. It indeed belongs to a third company, Petroineos, a group of the British Ineos and the Chinese Petrochina.
The strikers, who are employees working for refineries and fuel of TotalEnergies, are asking for increases in their remuneration. “The requests have existed since March 2022. We have already been told that we were going to open negotiations, first before the summer and then, in September. For the oil branch, it was decided to apply on January 1 We have a loss of purchasing power enormous, like everyone else, for 2022. What we are already asking for is a catch-up for 2022 and an increase for 2023″, declared Emmanuel Lépine on RMC Monday October 10. “If we start negotiations, it will be on the basis of our demands: we are asking for a 10% increase in wages, applied on January 1 and retroactive to the year 2022” abounds in The Parisian Eric Sellini, CGT coordinator at TotalEnergies.
TotalEnergies has however already indicated that the negotiations “will make it possible to define how employees will be able to benefit, before the end of the year, from the exceptional results generated by TotalEnergies, while also taking into account inflation for the year 2022”. In the first half of this year, TotalEnergies, which operates about one in three service stations in France, earned $10.6 billion in profit.
It took two weeks of strikes in the refineries of the TotalEnergies group for the first negotiations to be organised. The discussions did not bear fruit immediately and a second round of negotiations was necessary to find an agreement between the company and some unions. The CFDT and the CFE-CGT, which are in the majority and together represent 56% of Total employees, accepted a compromise on the night of October 13 to 14. Before ratifying the agreement which provides for a 7% salary increase from November 2022 and a bonus of 3,000 to 6,000 euros, the unions must speak with their members to find out if they agree to sign the agreement.
The CGT for its part refused the agreement proposed by Total, judging the proposals “largely insufficient”. Note that the CGT demands the revaluation of wages up to 10%. The compromise is therefore a “masquerade” according to the CGT general secretary of the TotalEnergies Normandy platform, Alexis Antonioli, who adds that “these unions who would come to sign an agreement at a discount, it will not change anything in the mobilization, it will not change anything to the spirit and determination of the strikers”.
Legally, the government has the right to requisition. To do this, the executive relies on two decrees. At the national level, this is article 2141-3 of the defense code, which provides that the government has “the right to subject, to control and distribution, energy resources, raw materials, products manufacturers and products necessary for the supply and, for this purpose, to impose on natural or legal persons in their property, the essential constraints”. At the local level, article 2215-3 of the general code of local authorities indicates that the prefect may, “in emergency, when the observed or foreseeable breach of good order, health, tranquility and public security so requires”, requisition “any property or service, require any person necessary for the operation of this service” until “the breach of public order has ended or the conditions for its continuation are assured”.
The requisition of refineries and depots is a radical solution which is not to the liking of the striking employees, but the government justifies it by the need not to “let the country be blocked”. On this subject, the head of the oil branch of the CGT, Emmanuel Lépine, indicated yesterday on RMC be “aware of the negative impact”. And to add: “The cause of this situation is the immobility of the management of the oil companies, ExxonMobil and Total. The employees no longer have confidence in the promises. negotiations and proposals, before ending the strike.”
On October 10, the Prime Minister urgently brought together the ministers at Matignon to find solutions, including the requisition. The word had been spoken and if the decision seems radical it will make it possible to supply the stations with gasoline again in the coming days. The government spokesman, like several of his fellow ministers on the morning political shows, estimated that the “normal operation” of petrol stations would return in a few days, while stressing that in the most affected regions the process could take longer. time. But the hard strike and the requisitions will not prevent many blockages in the supply chain. Shortages at service stations are likely to last for several more days, with fuel distribution logistics experts considering a return to normal unlikely before October 18, 2022.
Where to find gasoline in France?
Linternaute offers you a map listing all the service stations with fuel, in order to have a view of the delivery points. This map, built on reliable public data, is updated in real time.
To influence the negotiations and public opinion, the management of TotalEnergies posted a press release to make public the levels of remuneration of employees. According to Total, refinery operators – workers, supervisors only – receive 5,000 euros per month, including profit-sharing and participation, on average over the year 2022. Figures disputed by CGT TotalEnergies trade unionists: with BFMTV, these advance salary levels around 2100 euros gross “on hiring”. On this sensitive issue, Germinal Lancelin, Secretary General of CGT ExxonMobil Chimie, gave details on BFMTV: “The hiring salary of an operator is 2120 euros gross. To this can be added bonuses if the person makes “shifts”. 4300 or 4500 euros, it is the salary of a department head at the end of his career or a shift supervisor with 20 years of seniority”.
TotalEnergies also indicates that while the group’s profits have been significant in recent months, employees have been rewarded for their contribution. “These same employees benefited in 2022 from an average profit-sharing in the company’s results of 9,108 euros, with a minimum amount of 7,250 euros” can we read in the press release from TotalEnergies.