Strikes at TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil’s Esso France refineries have shut down refinery operations and left nearly 30% of gas stations in France lacking fuel.
French media are reporting huge lines at gas stations, due to three out of six refineries being shut down. France 24 is reporting that over the two weeks of strikes so far, domestic fuel output is down by over 60%, or roughly 740,000 barrels of gasoline per day.
Workers at the refineries, who are suffering under rampant inflation and skyrocketing energy prices, themselves are demanding a pay raise, saying the soaring profits the energy companies are making should, in part, flow back to them.
French energy company TotalEnergies made $5.7 billion in profits in the second quarter of 2022, vs only $2.2 billion in profit during the same period in 2021. The union representing the French workers, CGT, is calling for the profits to be taxed, as well as a 10% wage increase for their workers, made up of 7% to counter inflation, and 3% as “profit-sharing.”
On Sunday, TotalEnergies made an offer to bring forward wage talks to October, from mid-November, hoping to persuade employees to lift the strike at the refineries.
In a statement, it said, “Provided the blockades will end and all labor representatives agree, the company proposes to advance to October the start of mandatory annual wage talks.”
French Energy company Esso France, has been locked in negotiations with its workers for weeks.
For its part, the French government has released strategic reserves and sought to raise imports to help cope with the crisis. Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said she was pleased to see the two energy firms engaging in discussions over wages, “so that the French people are not taken hostage by this social dispute and can go to work with confidence.”
Union representatives have said to the media that they will continue to strike until their demands are met.
The Daily Financial Trends