Blockades have paralysed several of France's refineries and oil depots
The French government warned Tuesday that it could move to break blockades of refineries and fuel depots paralysed by strikes, saying it would soon force some of the workers to return to their jobs.
Motorists again besieged petrol stations that are either low on fuel or completely dry as the labour protest at energy giant TotalEnergies and Esso-ExxonMobil entered its third week.
Government ministers have urged a negotiated resolution to the crisis, but have been threatening direct intervention to get supplies flowing again if agreements are not reached soon.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told parliament that workers would be requisitioned in particular at two depots owned by Esso-ExxonMobil, and face fines or jail time if they refuse.
Unions representing overall staff at the company accepted a pay deal Monday, but the hard-left CGT and FO unions at the depots rejected it and voted to extend their strike.
“Social dialogue means moving forward as soon as a majority agrees,” Borne told lawmakers. “I have asked officials to begin, as allowed by law, requisitions of essential staff for operating this company’s depots.”
Earlier, government spokesman Olivier Veran said striking workers at TotalEnergies could also be forced back, calling the strike “excessive and out of line”.
The company has said it is willing to advance annual pay negotiations to this month.
But Eric Sellini, coordinator for the CGT union at the oil major, said: “We are still waiting for details from management on what they want to negotiate on.”
His union demands a 10 percent pay hike for all of 2022, pointing to the company’s profit of $5.7 billion in the second quarter of the year, more than double the year-earlier figure.
– ‘They don’t respect us’ –
The stoppages have hit several key refineries, including France’s biggest near Le Havre in the north of the country, after strikers at TotalEnergies voted to extend their action.
The company runs a network of around 3,500 filling stations in France, nearly a third of the total.
At Fos-sur-Mer, in southern France, home to refineries run by TotalEnergies and Esso, strikers said their working conditions had been getting worse for years.
“For the past 10 years we have not been getting the slightest recognition for our work,” said one worker who joined Esso 24 years ago.
“Not only don’t they pay us enough, they also don’t respect us,” agreed CGT spokesman Fabien Cros at the neighbouring TotalEnergies installation.
Franck Tinel, the FO secretary for Esso at the site, said the threat of forcing workers back to work would have only a limited impact.
“They’re going to unblock internal depots for these refineries, but we’re not storage sites, so in fact these volumes will be used up quickly,” he said after Borne’s announcement.
But other workers acknowledged that tensions could rise further if the government began ordering refinery workers back.
– ‘We can’t work’ –
Motorists formed long queues outside petrol stations from dawn Tuesday, hoping to be served before the pumps closed.
Many used social media to exchange tips. One post in a Facebook group Monday said a local BP service station would be resupplied “at 2:30 pm”. Another replied: “It’s now 2:37 pm and they’re out of diesel.”
Jefferson Saint-Louis, a taxi driver, said “without fuel we can’t work. I’m just going to go home”.
The petrol crisis comes at a time of high energy prices and inflation that are sapping French households’ purchasing power.
The frustrations could add impetus to a “march against the high cost of living” in Paris and elsewhere on Sunday, called by the leftwing opposition coalition Nupes.
At the weekend, several prominent French people came out in support of the initiative, including this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Annie Ernaux.
“With this government, when dialogue stalls, it’s threats for the wage earners and caresses for the bosses,” tweeted Manuel Bompard, a deputy for the leftwing LFI party.
burs-jh/js/raz
