Fuel shortage: the strike renewed again at TotalEnergies

Published on: 15/10/2022 – 09:45 The strike in the French refineries of TotalEnergies has been renewed on the five sites, the CGT coordinator for the group, Eric Sellini, told AFP on Saturday morning. TotalEnergies keeps the pressure on. The group continues the strike Saturday, October 15 in the refineries, for lack of agreement on wage increases with the CGT, and with still significant consequences on many sectors of activity affected by the shortage of fuels. The strike had already been renewed on two sites, until Tuesday for the Normandy refinery located near Le Havre, the largest in France, and Wednesday for that of Donges (Loire-Atlantique). “The movement was renewed in the three establishments” of the Mède (bio-refinery in the Bouches-du-Rhône), Feyzin (refinery in the Rhône) and Flanders (North), Eric Sellini, CGT coordinator for the group, told AFP on Saturday morning, without giving further details. .>> To read also: “Shortage of fuel: the right of requisition, a highly flammable remedy””The bundles of information that I receive from right to left, there are no worries, it holds until on Tuesday,” said Thierry Defresne, secretary to AFP, on Friday. CGT of the TotalEnergies Europe committee. “Here in Flanders, it’s the requisitions that affect the morale of the strikers. If there are no requisitions this weekend, that should help us get through the weekend,” he added. Administrative Court of Lille on Friday rejected the appeal for interim relief filed by the CGT which challenged the legality of the requisition by the prefecture of striking personnel in this fuel depot. October 18 in the viewfinder Several sites intend to continue the movement until to make the junction with the day of interprofessional “mobilization and strike” of Tuesday to which called the CGT, FO, Solidaires and the FSU. In this perspective, calls for the “general strike” were launched, in particular in the transport (SNCF, RATP, dockers) and in the public service. A march against “high cost of living and climate inaction”, at the call of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Nupes, must also take place on Sunday. The strike on TotalEnergies sites is maintained despite the s signature of an agreement on wage increases concluded overnight from Thursday to Friday at TotalEnergies with two majority unions, the CFDT and the CFE-CGC. But the CGT slammed the door of the discussions, not satisfied with the management’s proposal . These were the first negotiations since the start of the strike on September 27. On the other hand, the strike was lifted successively Thursday and Friday in the only two refineries of the Esso-ExxonMobil group in France, in Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches -du-Rhône) then to Gravenchon, in Normandy, after the conclusion of a wage agreement on Tuesday. A return to normal not before “two to three weeks” But it will take “two to three weeks” to find a “situation of normal operation” at the level of the production of the refinery, completely blocked during the movement, warned the group. For its part, the government remained on the line mentioned this week by the President of the Republic, with a “return to the normal for motorists expected in the coming week”, according to Matignon on Friday evening. But the opposition accuses the executive of having badly managed this crisis and of being too optimistic. In the meantime, fuel shortages are a headache. head for number of professors ions, including farmers.”All the tractors are empty. I siphoned the tank from my combine harvester, there were 3 to 400 liters left. It will allow me to feed my cows”, explained to AFP Luc Smessaert, operator near Beauvais. On Friday, the number of service stations encountering supply difficulties had slightly decreased at midday, to 28, 5% against 29.2% the previous evening, according to the Ministry of Energy Transition. Fuel deliveries from the Donges refinery, near Saint-Nazaire, should take place “sporadically” during the weekend for “ease tensions,” the CGT announced on Friday. With AFP