oil industry

TotalEnergies accelerates refinery wage talks as fuel supply shrinks

Reuters

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

TotalEnergies accelerates refinery wage talks as fuel supply shrinks

TOTALENERGIES. Signs which read 'Out of Order' are seen on gasoline pumps at a TotalEnergies gas station in Bugnicourt, France, October 8, 2022.

Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

(1st UPDATE) France's TotalEnergies proposes holding wage talks in October instead of mid-November amid a strike by its workers

PARIS, France – TotalEnergies on Sunday, October 9, offered to bring forward wage talks, in response to union demands, as it sought to end a strike that has disrupted supplies to almost a third of French gas stations and led the government to tap strategic reserves.

“Provided the blockades will end and all labor representatives agree, the company proposes to advance to October the start of mandatory annual wage talks,” it said in a statement.

The talks were initially scheduled to start in mid-November.

Union representatives earlier told Reuters the strikes staged by the CGT, historically one of France’s more militant unions, would continue. They have disrupted operations at two ExxonMobil sites as well as at two TotalEnergies sites.

Over roughly two weeks of industrial action, France’s domestic fuel output has fallen by more than 60%, straining nerves across the country, as waiting lines grow and supplies have run dry.

Almost a third of France’s gas stations had problems getting supply of at least one fuel product on Sunday, up from 21% the day before, the office of the energy minister said.

France has released strategic reserves and raised imports, Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said in a statement, adding these should mean the supply situation improves on Monday, October 10.

Speaking to BFM TV, she welcomed TotalEnergies’ offer and said she expected a move from ExxonMobil’s Esso France unit “so that the French people are not taken hostage by this social dispute and can go to work with confidence.”

Esso France, ExxonMobil’s local unit, said it would hold a new round of wage talks with unions on Monday “with the aim of enabling the group’s refineries to resume operations as soon as possible.”

Windfall profits

Wage talks have been underway for weeks at ExxonMobil, while the CGT at TotalEnergies said it has been trying to get the management to the negotiation table earlier than formal talks scheduled next month.

Workers at TotalEnergies are seeking a 10% pay rise starting this year after a surge in energy prices led to huge profits that allowed the company to pay out an estimated 8 billion euros ($7.8 billion) in dividends and an additional special dividend to investors.

The company’s chief executive officer last week said “the time has come to reward” workers, but the company had refused to start negotiations.

A CGT representative said the union would not make any official comment on TotalEnergies’ offer before internal discussions and informing workers.

The CFDT union, France’s largest, which chose not to call for strikes despite demanding a similar pay rise, said in a statement it was prepared to start wage talks in October.

Aurore Berge, the head of the governing Renaissance group in the lower house of parliament, said workers had a legitimate right to seek a share in exceptional profits that were made with their help, but not to hurt ordinary people.

“It is not acceptable that workers stage preemptive walkouts which will hit whom? The French people who have no other choice [but to use their car],” she told BFM TV in an interview on Sunday. – Rappler.com

$1 = 1.0266 euros

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!