Tuesday evening, at the end of a day of strikes and demonstrations throughout the country, the CGT proposed the "renewal of the movement" of the refineries initiated on September 27 until Wednesday at midday, when must hold new general meetings.

Tuesday evening in Gonfreville in Normandy, the renewal was voted massively, according to Emmanuel Letetu, elected CSE of the CGT, and Pierre Yves Hauguel, CGT delegate.

In addition to Normandy, the strike movement at the call of the CGT in the refineries and depots still concerned Wednesday morning the TotalEnergies sites of Donges, La Mède, Feyzin (the depot, the refinery being stopped for technical reason) and Flanders (depot), said Eric Sellini, national coordinator of the CGT refineries.

According to Olivier Mateu, CGT departmental secretary of Bouches du Rhône, "nothing is decided" for the future.

“It is the employees who will decide”, also notes Mr. Sellini.

"Beyond the refiners and the 14,000 employees of TotalEnergies, we also carry the voice of those who suffer from the fact that wages do not keep up with inflation and who see winter coming with promises of higher fuel prices. 'energy or food', Mr Sellini argued.

branch agreement

"It is at the national level that this question (wages, editor's note) must be dealt with, because we are in a very special situation", he added, while many are asking for an indexation of salary increases on inflation.

In total, 107,000 people also demonstrated Tuesday in France to demand better wages according to the Ministry of the Interior, "nearly 300,000" according to the CGT.

During the previous day of the same type, the CGT had counted fewer participants (250,000), but the Interior more (118,500).

A demonstrator holds up a sign with the slogan "Support for refiners, let's generalize the strike!"

during the national mobilization day of October 18, 2022, in Rennes Damien MEYER AFP

In the rest of the energy sector, the CGT has signed a branch agreement with FO and the CFDT on increases in the gas and electricity industries (IEG), we learned on Tuesday from concordant sources.

This constitutes a first step for the opening of wage negotiations in good and due form in the 157 companies concerned, including EDF and Engie.

At TotalEnergies, which is part of the chemical sector within professional organizations, the CGT did not sign the salary agreement concluded on Friday between the management and the two majority unions, the CFE-CGC and the CFDT.

Protesters are gathered outside the Total refinery in Mardyck, near Dunkirk, on October 18, 2022 FRANCOIS LO PRESTI AFP

The agreement provides for a general increase of 5% in wages, accompanied by individual increases and an exceptional bonus of between 3,000 and 6,000 euros.

The CGT demanded 10% to compensate for inflation and take advantage of the exceptional income earned by the group in 2021.

© 2022 AFP