Emmanuel Macron's calls for "responsibility" have changed nothing.

The situation remained at a standstill at TotalEnergies where the strikers refused on Wednesday evening a proposal from management to lift the fuel depot blockades, a few hours after a first requisition launched by the government at Esso-ExxonMobil in order to supply service stations. Ile-de-France dry.

At the end of a new meeting at the headquarters of TotalEnergies in La Défense, the strikers firmly refused a proposal to release deliveries early Thursday morning, as a condition for opening in the wake of wage negotiations.

“It is a massive categorical refusal, they (the employees) do not want this requirement to negotiate”, declared to AFP Thierry Defresne, CGT secretary of the TotalEnergies Europe committee.

TotalEnergies for its part confirmed to AFP "the negative outcome of the discussions of the night".

Earlier in the day, the management had nevertheless agreed for the first time to receive the CGT on Wednesday.

Until now, it required as a prerequisite the lifting of blockages to see the second union of the group.

Next requisition in Flandes at TotalEnergies

At the same time, as announced by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, the Ministry of Energy Transition has launched the requisition of the personnel essential to the operation of the fuel depot at the ExxonMobil Port-Jérôme/Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon refinery. (Seine Maritime).

The decree was notified by the director of the site to four employees, two for Wednesday and two for Thursday, who will be forced to come and reopen the floodgates, under penalty of criminal sanctions.

Philippe Martinez, leader of the CGT, who came in support of ExxonMobil employees, denounced a “scandalous decision” and announced the filing of an interim order Thursday, to oppose it.

The requisition does not target refinery operations and therefore fuel production.

It "will make it possible to ensure the shipment of products", "normally today to the Paris region" by pipeline, a spokeswoman for Esso France said on Wednesday.

The strikers at the Flanders depot of TotalEnergies, near Dunkirk, will be the next to be requisitioned, the government has assured.

Back to normal ?

President Emmanuel Macron for his part planned a return to normal in the distribution of fuels "during the coming week", during an interview on France 2 on Wednesday evening, also calling for "responsibility" the management of TotalEnergies and the CGT.

Wednesday at 5:00 p.m., 30.8% of service stations lacked one or more fuels (31.3% Tuesday), according to the Ministry of Energy Transition.

A worse proportion in Hauts-de-France, Ile-de-France and Center-Val-de-Loire.

Employers for their part were worried this week about the consequences of this strike on the economic life of the country.

The cause of the conflict: wages.

The CGT, which launched the strike on September 27 at TotalEnergies, is demanding a 10% increase for 2022, against the 3.5% obtained at the start of the year, in order to offset inflation and take advantage of the group's exceptional profits. .

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  • Fuels

  • CGT

  • TotalEnergies

  • ExxonMobil