France: faced with the strike in the oil sector, Borne announces requisitions
French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne during the session of questions to the government at the National Assembly in Paris, October 11, 2022. AFP - THOMAS SAMSON
Text by: RFI Follow
6 mins
Bruno Le Maire announced it, Elisabeth Borne confirmed it.
While the conflict continues in the oil sector, at TotalEnergies and Esso-ExxonMobil, the Prime Minister was firm, this Tuesday, October 11 in the Assembly, starting to draw the weapon of requisitions against the strikers.
Even if it means stretching them, since the large Donges refinery, in the west of France, is joining the strike movement as a result.
More than a third of service stations are running out of fuel.
Some are even dry.
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Jostled by the right in the National Assembly on Tuesday, the Prime Minister responds "
requisition
".
Responding to the deputy Les Républicains Éric Ciotti, who wondered if France is still governed during the session of questions to the government, Élisabeth Borne announced the requisition of personnel for the release of the French fuel depots of the Esso-ExxonMobil group.
The strike for wages was renewed there today, just like at TotalEnergies.
But at Esso-ExxonMobil, a wage agreement had been concluded the day before, by two trade unions which are in the majority at the group level, if not within its refineries.
Elisabeth Borne, this Tuesday at the Bourbon Palace (the day after an emergency meeting at Matignon):
Social dialogue means moving forward once a majority has emerged.
These are not minimum agreements.
Management announcements are significant.
Therefore, I asked the prefects to initiate, as permitted by law, the procedure for requisitioning the personnel essential to the operation of the depots of this company.
The two depots concerned are those of Fos-sur-Mer, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, and Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon, in Seine-Maritime.
They are located near the company's French refineries affected by the strike, unlike the third, in Toulouse in Haute-Garonne.
Fuel: "It would be war" if the striking employees were requisitioned, warns the CGThttps://t.co/OPnHKhUxEV pic.twitter.com/PivA1Ys9h0
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) October 11, 2022
►Also listen: Fuel shortage: "All EU states are obliged to have strategic stocks"
"Everyone must take responsibility"
Several ministers had brandished, since the morning, the threat to resort to this measure of requisition.
"
Either the negotiations start and end quickly and the fuel depots are reopened quickly, or we will use the other means that are available to us, including requisitions
", had warned in particular the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno The mayor.
Beforehand, Olivier Véran, spokesperson for the government, also wanted to make the difference between the situation at ExxonMobil, where "
there is no longer any reason
" for blockage in his eyes after the agreement between management and unions, and at TotalEnergies, where no negotiations have yet started.
“
At Total, the reformist unions called for the opening of negotiations.
Management responded positively.
I hope that the other representative unions will seize this outstretched hand, because social dialogue is always more fruitful than conflict.
Failing that, the government will act, again, to unblock the situation
,” insisted the head of government before the Assembly.
When the door is open to discussion, when proposals are ready to be discussed, we cannot continue to block the country.
Everyone must take responsibility.
The government takes its own.
The objective is clear: we want the situation to improve quickly for the daily life of the French people.
The Donges refinery joins the national strike https://t.co/uLEWLTwWQa#Donges #LoireAtlantique #grevetotal #penuriecarburants pic.twitter.com/simqJciujU
– France 3 Pays de la Loire (@F3PaysdelaLoire) October 11, 2022
►To re-read: Fuel shortages: the strike renewed, Matignon increases the pressure
“Infringement of the constitutional right to strike”
On the side of Esso-ExxonMobil, the refineries of Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon (Seine-Maritime) and Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône), renewed their movement on Tuesday, at the call of Force Ouvrière (FO) and the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), despite the signing of the agreement.
On the TotalEnergies side, the strike will extend from this Wednesday at 5 a.m. at the Donges refinery, near Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique, in western France), we learned. Tuesday evening by the CGT.
It is one of five TotalEnergies refineries in France, the second largest producer of refined oil in France.
Every year, more than 10 million liters come out.
For the government, this is therefore a new obstacle.
And according to the secretary of the CGT at the refinery, Fabien Privé Saint-Lanne, Ms. Borne is not for nothing:
What makes us react?
There are two points.
Firstly, Total's complete blocking of the discussions and demands of our colleagues from other establishments for almost three weeks now (...) And secondly, the requisitions that have just been made by Elisabeth Terminal within Exxon, which are an infringement of the constitutional right to strike.
Enough to disrupt fuel production in the country a little more, since there will be no shipments, no loading or unloading, nor any means of transport, truck or boat that will arrive, reports our correspondent in the west of France,
Matthieu Bonhoure
.
With 650 employees, it will take around 30 strikers in key positions to completely disrupt the flow of refined oil from the plant.
Not a drop will come out, assures Fabien Privé Saint-Lanne, secretary general of the CGT on this site.
A few days ago, they had already followed the strike movement for 72 hours, but had suspended this action, for lack of means.
This time, it's the straw that broke the camel's back, according to the CGT union.
Fuel shortage: striking employees will be requisitioned, but is it really legal?
https://t.co/u8UyyA7z8W
— Ouest-France (@OuestFrance) October 11, 2022
►Also listen: 7:15 a.m. – France down
“We are still awaiting clarification”
Within TotalEnergies, the CGT, at the origin of the movement, is asking for a 10% increase in wages for 2022, against the 3.5% negotiated at the start of the year, and this, in response to the 10.6 billion of profits recorded in the first half by the TotalEnergies group.
“
We are still awaiting details in terms of negotiations by management
”, explains Éric Sellini, CGT coordinator for the group, after the discussion proposal launched by TotalEnergies.
The Normandy refinery, but also the Flanders fuel depot, near Dunkirk, or the La Mède bio-refinery, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, have renewed the movement this day too.
They are joined by motorway service stations from the Argedis network, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies.
Requisitions go wrong.
The CGT of Esso-ExxonMobil denounces a questioning of the right to strike.
If the requisitions were to strike the strikers at TotalEnergies, "
we will go to court to have them canceled
", promises coordinator Éric Sellini.
About a third of service stations are affected by fuel shortages in the country.
TotalEnergies announced in the evening to invite the representative unions which “
do not participate in the strike movement
” for a meeting of “
consultations and exchanges
”, this Wednesday afternoon.
In its press release, the giant specifies, to the address of the General Confederation of Workers:
If the CGT lifts all site blockages before noon tomorrow, it will be welcome at this dialogue meeting.
"I will spend my nights looking for it if necessary": nurses facing the fuel shortage in Moselle
➡️ https://t.co/x6m7ZCgng7 pic.twitter.com/j4AOkNszKQ
— France Bleu (@francebleu) October 11, 2022
►On the same subject: France: TotalEnergies proposes to bring forward wage negotiations
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Elisabeth Borne
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