The strike at refineries and oil depots in France threatens to become a major problem for French President Emmanuel Macron. The blockades, which have already lasted more than two weeks, cause queues and fuel shortages at service stations in various regions of the country. The Government ordered this Thursday the mobilization by law of TotalEnergies personnel to reopen a warehouse in the north of France, while the company announced an additional month of salary for its employees around the world. The CGT union, supported by part of the parliamentary left, wants to prolong the pulse.
Macron trusts that the majority of French people, and especially the motorists who are seeing how the strike prevents them from moving in conditions, blame the CGT and applaud the intervention by force in refineries and warehouses to recover supply. The union and the faction today majority in the French left frame the battle in the fight against the disproportionate profits of the oil companies, a cause that enjoys sympathy in the population. And they try that the spark in the refineries ignites a movement in favor of salary improvements throughout France, the country of the European Union with the lowest inflation, 6.2%.
Of the eight French refineries, five are on strike and three are operating. Of these three, one – belonging to Esso-ExxonMobil – reopened on Thursday after the mobilization ceased. The CGT union has agreed to extend the strike at the rest of the plants, but agreed to participate in the first round of negotiations at TotalEnergies. “If the social dialogue does not reach a result in the next few hours, we are going to do requisitions”, Macron announced on Wednesday night in an interview on the France 2 television network. requisitions They allow the State to mobilize the personnel and goods necessary for the installations to function for the benefit of the common interest. “I call for the responsibility of the leaders of these companies and the employees and unions that represent them,” added the president.
This week the government has ordered the forced mobilization of workers in two warehouses – one on Tuesday and the other Thursday – and has threatened to unilaterally force the reopening of refineries and warehouses if the negotiations do not advance. In the Bouches-du-Rhône department, where the city of Marseille is located, the State has intervened seven service stations to reserve them, from six in the morning to noon, for priority professions such as doctors and hospital staff. The president of the Occitania region, Carole Delga, announced that this weekend journeys on regional trains will cost 1 euro to facilitate travel.
The shadow of the yellow vests
The Elysee says that it is confident that the crisis will be under control within ten days. The fear of the Government is that the conflict will lead to something bigger, similar to the yellow vests in 2018. Then there was no war in Ukraine, no energy restrictions, no inflation, and no threat of recession.
The CGT – a minority union, but with enough punch to, with a handful of workers, shut down the fuel supply – has described the offer of an extraordinary month’s salary by TotalEnergies as a communication trick. Philippe Martinez, general secretary of the CGT, called on Thursday to “generalize the strikes.” This and other unions have called for a national day of mobilization and strike for next Tuesday. Sandrine Rousseau, an influential Greens MP, declares herself directly in favor of the “general strike”. “A number of sectors in poor pay situations should join the movement,” said Alexis Corbière, a lieutenant to leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The demonstration of the left this Sunday in Paris “against expensive life and climate inaction”, convened for weeks, will allow forces to be calibrated. Macron has reacted late. And for many French, he is not a neutral arbitrator in the negotiation. They reproach him for his opposition to the tax on extraordinary profits from energy companies. But the position of the CGT and Mélenchon is not in the majority either and they may have mismeasured their forces and end up being singled out as being responsible for the paralysis of the country. Laurent Berger, secretary general of the CFDT reformist union, the first in the country, defends the negotiation and rejects the call for a general strike. “I’m wary of climbing,” he said.
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