Strikes persist at TotalEnergies refineries and fuel depot in France
French refinery and fuel depot workers at five sites owned by oil giant TotalEnergies have extended their strike, union leaders said Saturday, compounding concern over petrol supply ahead of wider protests early next week.
Four of France's seven refineries and one fuel depot were out of action, after strikers rejected a pay offer from the hydrocarbon industry leader.
Operations had resumed earlier in the week at two other refineries run by Esso-ExxonMobil, however, after workers struck a bargain with management.
The blockages have caused queues outside petrol stations, and worry across all sectors of the economy from mobile healthcare workers to farmers.
President Emmanuel Macron's government forced some strikers back to work this week to open fuel depots, a move that infuriated unions but has been upheld by courts.
The hard-left CGT union, which launched the industrial action three weeks ago, said on Saturday that workers at three TotalEnergies sites had decided to extend their strike.
"The action has been extended at three sites," said Eric Sellini, the CGT coordinator at the company.
Employees at the two others, including France's largest refinery near the northwestern city of Le Havre, had already decided to prolong their action.
Protest in Paris
On Sunday, left-wing opponents of Macron will hold a march and rally in Paris to campaign against the rising cost of living.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) party, had planned the march well before the current strike, but organisers are hoping to pick up some of the momentum from the current industrial unrest.
"The rise in prices is unbearable," LFI deputy Manon Aubry told broadcaster LFI. "It is the greatest loss of purchasing power in 40 years."
It is time the billions that the big companies were reaping in profits were passed down to those struggling to make ends meet, she added.
Police are expecting around 30,000 people to attend, with one source saying they feared problems from hard-left troublemakers. "The organiser has been warned of these fears," said the official.
More protests and strikes
The CGT, meanwhile, has extended its strike action up to Tuesday, when it has also caused a broader strike involving public transport nationwide.
The union risks stoking resentment in a country where three-fourths of workers rely on personal vehicles for their jobs, with public support for the strike at just 37 percent in a BVA poll released Friday.
The CGT is pushing for a 10-percent pay rise for staff at TotalEnergies, retroactive for all of 2022.
It says the French group can more than afford it, citing TotalEnergies' net profit of $5.7 billion in the April-June period as energy prices soared with the war in Ukraine, and its payout of billions of euros in dividends to shareholders.
The CGT walked out of talks with the French group in the night of Thursday to Friday, even as other unions representing a majority of workers accepted a deal for a lesser pay hike.
TotalEnergies on Saturday urged its workers to resume work, "in view of the signing of a majority deal on salaries" with two other unions.
Esso-ExxonMobil has said it would take two to three weeks to relaunch production at its refineries.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is due to appear on primetime television Sunday evening to discuss the petrol shortage.
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Four of France's seven refineries and one fuel depot were out of action, after strikers rejected a pay offer from the hydrocarbon industry leader.
Operations had resumed earlier in the week at two other refineries run by Esso-ExxonMobil, however, after workers struck a bargain with management.
The blockages have caused queues outside petrol stations, and worry across all sectors of the economy from mobile healthcare workers to farmers.
President Emmanuel Macron's government forced some strikers back to work this week to open fuel depots, a move that infuriated unions but has been upheld by courts.
The hard-left CGT union, which launched the industrial action three weeks ago, said on Saturday that workers at three TotalEnergies sites had decided to extend their strike.
"The action has been extended at three sites," said Eric Sellini, the CGT coordinator at the company.
Employees at the two others, including France's largest refinery near the northwestern city of Le Havre, had already decided to prolong their action.
Protest in Paris
On Sunday, left-wing opponents of Macron will hold a march and rally in Paris to campaign against the rising cost of living.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) party, had planned the march well before the current strike, but organisers are hoping to pick up some of the momentum from the current industrial unrest.
"The rise in prices is unbearable," LFI deputy Manon Aubry told broadcaster LFI. "It is the greatest loss of purchasing power in 40 years."
It is time the billions that the big companies were reaping in profits were passed down to those struggling to make ends meet, she added.
Police are expecting around 30,000 people to attend, with one source saying they feared problems from hard-left troublemakers. "The organiser has been warned of these fears," said the official.
More protests and strikes
The CGT, meanwhile, has extended its strike action up to Tuesday, when it has also caused a broader strike involving public transport nationwide.
The union risks stoking resentment in a country where three-fourths of workers rely on personal vehicles for their jobs, with public support for the strike at just 37 percent in a BVA poll released Friday.
The CGT is pushing for a 10-percent pay rise for staff at TotalEnergies, retroactive for all of 2022.
It says the French group can more than afford it, citing TotalEnergies' net profit of $5.7 billion in the April-June period as energy prices soared with the war in Ukraine, and its payout of billions of euros in dividends to shareholders.
The CGT walked out of talks with the French group in the night of Thursday to Friday, even as other unions representing a majority of workers accepted a deal for a lesser pay hike.
TotalEnergies on Saturday urged its workers to resume work, "in view of the signing of a majority deal on salaries" with two other unions.
Esso-ExxonMobil has said it would take two to three weeks to relaunch production at its refineries.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is due to appear on primetime television Sunday evening to discuss the petrol shortage.
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