OUR France urged TotalEnergies today to raise wages in connection with a two-week standoff between oil the company and its striking workers who cut supplies petrol countries continues.

Strikes at oil storage facilities and refineries have reduced French gasoline production by more than 60 per cent, and one in three of the country’s gas stations are struggling to secure supplies.

A strike at EDF’s five nuclear units is delaying repairs and refueling at a time when the French facility is already trying to get several reactors back online for the winter amid Europe’s broader energy crisis.

“With the profits that they have made (…) companies that have the opportunity to raise wages, and Total is one of them,” finance minister Bruno Le Maire told RTL radio, adding that the company was in no hurry to start negotiations with the CGT union. .

“Total should raise wages”

Initial talks between TotalEnergies and CGT leaders took place on Wednesday but failed to resolve the stalemate, with a union spokesman telling Reuters today that the strike, which affects four refineries and the Dunkirk plant, will continue.

“Total should raise wages,” French Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Rinacer also said, adding that the government intends to force refinery workers, some of whom have been on strike since September 27, to return to work in storage facilities.

A local union spokesman later told Reuters that five workers on strike at the TotalEnergies warehouse in Dunkirk had been ordered back to work today. A union spokesman also stated that police were present at these facilities.

The French government has confirmed that a return to work order has been issued, with a source in the prime minister’s office saying it will take effect at 2:00 pm local time (3:00 pm Greek time).

“The government continues to expect that the dialogue between company management and workers’ representatives will be repeated in the coming hours,” the same source said.

What TotalEnergies Says

TotalEnergies said in a statement that conditions to negotiate wages with all unions have not been met as various plant lockouts continue, but also says it will pay a one-time bonus to its workers around the world.

The bonus will be one month’s salary and will be paid in December, the company says, adding that it has also told unions it intends to consider a 6% pay rise in 2023 to offset inflation in 2022.

Separately, a CGT spokesman at Esso France told Reuters that the strike, which led to a blockade of two Exxon refineries, would also continue.

The French Ministry of Energy yesterday ordered staff to return to work at Esso’s warehouses in Gravenceau-Por-Gerome, where the CGT continues to strike despite a wage agreement with two other unions.

CGT for the energy sector also announced today that workers at Engie’s natural gas storage facilities are also continuing to strike.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}