TotalEnergies management says it has “anticipated the necessary logistical measures” to avoid shortages.
Employees of TotalEnergies in France began a strike on Tuesday, September 27, for at least three days to demand, among other things, an increase in their salaries, on the call of the CGT. The CGT reported that 70% of the workforce was on strike, a figure that the Group’s management did not comment on. “We call for no product to be taken out of the refineries and petrochemicals, where the CGT is located,” Benjamin Tange, CGT central union delegate for TotalEnergies petrochemicals refining in France, told AFP.
Among the main sites concerned are the La Mède biorefinery (Bouches-du-Rhône), the Normandy refinery in Le Havre, Donges (Loire-Atlantique), Carling (Moselle), Feyzin (Rhône) and Oudalle (Seine-Maritime), as well as the fuel depots of Grandpuits (Seine-et-Marne) and Flandres (Nord).
The management wants to reassure
Contacted by AFP, the group’s management said it had, in anticipation of the movement, “anticipated the necessary logistical measures to be able to supply its network of service stations and its customers normally.
It recalled that the French employees of the common social base “have benefited from salary measures representing an average increase of 3.5% in 2022”, and added that “negotiations will start in November”, two months earlier than usual, “to see how employees can benefit from the results generated by TotalEnergies”.
Several demands on jobs and wages
In addition to an “immediate salary increase of 10% for the year 2022”, the CGT is demanding the “unfreezing of hiring” in France and “a massive investment plan” in France, said Benjamin Tange, noting that these claims had already been the cause of movements on June 24 and July 28.