The government maintains the pressure on the strikers as well as on the management of TotalEnergies.
Invited on RTL on Thursday morning, the Minister of Economy and Finance dismissed the two opposing parties back to back in the strike causing local fuel shortages, considering first that it is “obvious that TotalEnergies has the capacity to pay raises.
“
Obviously Total has to do it […].
The sharing of value in France must be fair
, ”argued Bruno Le Maire.
For the Minister, the company, thanks to its significant profits, even has the “
duty to increase the wages of all employees, in proportions which they will negotiate with the trade unions
”.
The management of the tricolor giant was "delayed" in launching negotiations, he also criticized.
For its part, the CGT must “answer this question: what does it want?
General blocking, or negotiations in good faith,” he concluded.
LIVE - Fuel crisis: strike renewed at TotalEnergies and Esso-ExxonMobil
On RMC, at the same time, the Minister responsible for the Energy Transition also spoke out for “salary increases”, in order to unblock the situation.
"I call on everyone, in responsibility, to take stock of the situation," said Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
A few hours earlier, Wednesday evening, Emmanuel Macron had launched "
a call for responsibility to the leaders of these companies and to the employees
", in order to unblock the situation.
TotalEnergies offers a 6% salary increase and the equivalent of a month's bonus
A few minutes later, the group clarified its plans in a press release.
TotalEnergies proposed to the unions, on Wednesday evening, to be “willing to consider a budget for 2023 wage increases based on 2022 inflation”, or 6%.
An offer that will have to be negotiated with the social partners.
In addition, the energy company wishes to better share its profits with its workers, by allocating to all its employees worldwide "an exceptional bonus corresponding to one month's salary which will be paid in December, subject to wage agreements in the various countries and subsidiaries concerned".
This bonus will be "capped for high salaries, will be paid to employees of all 100%-owned companies as well as to employees of companies more than 50%-owned in the event of agreement by their governance bodies", also specifies the 'company.
These announcements come as the strike was renewed by the CGT and FO, Thursday morning, on all five sites mobilized across France.
On Wednesday evening, the CGT refused a request from the management of the company, which wanted the depots to resume their shipping activity at dawn.
“
It is a massive categorical refusal, they (the employees) do not want this requirement to negotiate
”, declared to AFP Thierry Defresne, CGT secretary of the TotalEnergies Europe committee.
“We note that the conditions are not met to organize the negotiation between all the representative organizations, the CGT having decided to maintain the blockages”, regrets the management, in its press release.
