SHARE THE WINDFALL PROFITS!
TotalEnergies accelerates refinery wage talks as fuel supply shrinks
Queues stretch at Paris petrol stations, testing motorists' patience
Tassilo Hummel and Caroline Pailliez
Sun, October 9, 2022
PARIS (Reuters) -TotalEnergies on Sunday proposed to bring forward annual wage talks, in response to union demands, to try to end a protracted strike that has disrupted supplies to almost a third of the country's petrol stations.
"Provided the blockades will end and all labour representatives agree, the company proposes to advance to October the start of mandatory annual wage talks," it said in a statement.
The talks were initially scheduled to start in mid-November.
Union representatives earlier told Reuters the strikes staged by the CGT, historically one of France's more militant unions, would continue. They have disrupted operations at two ExxonMobil sites as well as at two TotalEnergies sites.
Over roughly two weeks of industrial action, France's domestic fuel output has fallen by more than 60%, straining nerves across the country, as waiting lines grow and supplies have run dry.
Almost a third of France's petrol stations had problems getting supply of at least one fuel product on Sunday, up from 21% the day before, the office of the energy minister said.
France has released strategic reserves and raised imports, Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said.
"These additional volumes should allow the situation to improve throughout the day on Monday," she said in a statement.
WINDFALL PROFITS
Wage talks have been underway for weeks at ExxonMobil, while the CGT at TotalEnergies said it has been trying to get the management to the negotiation table earlier than formal talks scheduled next month.
Workers at TotalEnergies are seeking a 10% pay rise starting this year after a surge in energy prices led to huge profits that allowed the company to pay out an estimated eight billion euros ($7.8 billion) in dividends and an additional special dividend to investors.
The company's CEO last week said "the time has come to reward" workers, but the company until had refused to start negotiations.
A CGT representative said the union would not make any official comment on TotalEnergie's offer before internal discussions and informing workers.
The CFDT union, France's largest, which chose not to call for strikes despite demanding a similar pay rise, said in a statement it was prepared to start wage talks in October.
ExxonMobil in France did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Aurore Berge, the head of the governing Renaissance group in the lower house of parliament, said workers had a legitimate right to seek a share in exceptional profits that were made with their help, but not to hurt ordinary people.
"It is not acceptable that workers stage preemptive walkouts which will hit whom? The French people who have no other choice (but to use their car)," she told BFM TV in an interview on Sunday.
Senator Bruno Retailleau, who is campaigning to become the head of the conservative Les Republicains, on Sunday urged the government to use force to end the shortages.
($1 = 1.0266 euros)
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel and Caroline Pailliez Editing by David Goodman and Barbara Lewis)
French energy giant offers pay talks to end fuel strike
Issued on: 09/10/2022 -
Paris (AFP) – France's TotalEnergies said on Sunday it would advance annual pay talks with unions if they dropped a blockade of fuel depots and refineries that has slashed petrol supplies across the country.
Vehicle owners have faced increasingly long waits to fill up after two weeks of strikes by workers demanding higher wages in response to soaring prices.
"I haven't been able to work for two days now," complained 60-year-old taxi driver Thierry.
He said he had "gone round the whole of Paris" to find fuel and had already been waiting for three hours at a filling station in the capital for fuel tankers to turn up.
Like other major oil companies, TotalEnergies has seen its profits soar as energy prices skyrocket during the war in Ukraine, and government officials have been pressing the company to settle the standoff.
TotalEnergies runs a network of around 3,500 filling stations in France, nearly a third of the total. Most of them are low on fuel or even empty for some types.
"If the depot blockades end and with the agreement of all labour representatives, the company proposes to move forward the annual salary negotiations from November to October," TotalEnergies said.
The discussions would define "how employees will benefit from TotalEnergies' exceptional results before the end of this year, taking into account this year's inflation".
On Sunday, the CGT union branch at the company -- which is leading the strikes at TotalEnergies and at rival Esso-ExxonMobil -- said the industrial action would continue but it was open to talks as soon as Monday.
"If we do start talks, it will be based on our demands -- a 10-percent salary hike ... retroactive for the year 2022," branch coordinator Eric Sellini told AFP.
Currently three of Total's refineries are blocked, including its largest, in Normandy, as well as a fuel depot near Flandres in the north.
The government has already dipped into strategic stockpiles in a bid to bring relief, and fuel tankers are being allowed exceptionally to make deliveries on Sunday to replenish filling stations.
"I'm all in favour of dialogue so French people don't have to put up with this industrial action for too long," Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told BFM television.
She said the government had increased supplies by 20 percent but fears of running out of fuel were aggravating the shortage. Some areas have seen a 30-percent spike in sales to motorists.
"The situation should improve tomorrow," she said.
Issued on: 09/10/2022 -
Paris (AFP) – France's TotalEnergies said on Sunday it would advance annual pay talks with unions if they dropped a blockade of fuel depots and refineries that has slashed petrol supplies across the country.
Vehicle owners have faced increasingly long waits to fill up after two weeks of strikes by workers demanding higher wages in response to soaring prices.
"I haven't been able to work for two days now," complained 60-year-old taxi driver Thierry.
He said he had "gone round the whole of Paris" to find fuel and had already been waiting for three hours at a filling station in the capital for fuel tankers to turn up.
Like other major oil companies, TotalEnergies has seen its profits soar as energy prices skyrocket during the war in Ukraine, and government officials have been pressing the company to settle the standoff.
TotalEnergies runs a network of around 3,500 filling stations in France, nearly a third of the total. Most of them are low on fuel or even empty for some types.
"If the depot blockades end and with the agreement of all labour representatives, the company proposes to move forward the annual salary negotiations from November to October," TotalEnergies said.
The discussions would define "how employees will benefit from TotalEnergies' exceptional results before the end of this year, taking into account this year's inflation".
On Sunday, the CGT union branch at the company -- which is leading the strikes at TotalEnergies and at rival Esso-ExxonMobil -- said the industrial action would continue but it was open to talks as soon as Monday.
"If we do start talks, it will be based on our demands -- a 10-percent salary hike ... retroactive for the year 2022," branch coordinator Eric Sellini told AFP.
Currently three of Total's refineries are blocked, including its largest, in Normandy, as well as a fuel depot near Flandres in the north.
The government has already dipped into strategic stockpiles in a bid to bring relief, and fuel tankers are being allowed exceptionally to make deliveries on Sunday to replenish filling stations.
"I'm all in favour of dialogue so French people don't have to put up with this industrial action for too long," Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told BFM television.
She said the government had increased supplies by 20 percent but fears of running out of fuel were aggravating the shortage. Some areas have seen a 30-percent spike in sales to motorists.
"The situation should improve tomorrow," she said.
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