France’s CGT union has denounced TotalEnergies’ tentative offer of early wage talks as “blackmail”, saying refinery strikes that have left a third of the country’s gas stations without fuel will continue until at least Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The union action at TotalEnergies, which coincides with strikes at two Exxon Mobil refineries in France, comes as workers across Europe demand higher wages to tackle inflation and a cost-of-living crisis.

President Emmanuel Macron, whose government is under increasing pressure to take action as the strike continues and some petrol stations run out, has called for a swift end to the crisis.

“Negotiations are ongoing and ongoing… I hope that in the coming hours, as soon as possible, it will be resolved. A blockade is not the way to negotiate,” Macron said during a visit to Mayenne in western France. .

A day after TotalEnergies offered to advance wage talks on the condition that the union ends its two-week strike at the refinery, CGT said “this attempt is perceived by CGT as blackmail and does not guarantee the satisfaction of the expressed demands and therefore back to work”.

A representative of the CGT union later said the refinery strike would be extended until Tuesday.

The trade union demands a 10% salary increase.

Esso France, Exxon Mobil’s French business, said on Sunday it had made an improved offer of a 6.5% pay rise in 2023 and a €3,000 bonus. This would mean a total salary increase of 10.7% plus €4,000 in bonuses between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2023, he added.

More than 60% of France’s oil refining capacity was shut down after the strikes, pushing up diesel prices and prompting the country to increase fuel imports.

Talks at TotalEnergies were scheduled for mid-November before Sunday’s bid to nominate them.

“This only inspires the striking workers, who are more united than ever,” a CGT official at TotalEnergies’ Feizin refinery said of the company’s conditional offer.

Long lines formed at gas stations in the Paris region, with drivers scrambling to fill up their cars before several gas stations ran out.

The Ministry of Energy stated that almost a third of gas stations in the whole country are facing a lack of at least one fuel.

Sugar producers received fuel from strategic reserves after warnings that a shortage of diesel fuel, which will affect the sugar beet harvest, could bring factories to a standstill.

TotalEnergies’ 240,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Gonfréville refinery shut down due to the strike.

Oil product supplies are also blocked at the 119,000 bpd Feyzin refinery, which is closed for unplanned repairs but has fuel in storage, as well as at the Cote d’Opal and La Mede fuel depots.

Two Exxon Mobil refineries have also been closed since late September.