Government threatens further requisitioning as strikes at TotalEnergies continue

The French government on Thursday said it was prepared to force employees to go back to work at a TotalEnergies TTEF.PAstorage site, as the CGT union and the company remain in a gridlock over wages, meaning the weeks-long strike weighing on the country’s petrol supplies was dragging on.

“If needed we will take measures to unblock available supplies in the Dunkirk depot”, said Energy Minister Agnes-Pannier Runacher, adding: “But I hope things will still evolve today between the CGT and Total.”

First talks between the company and union leaders were held on Wednesday, but they failed to end the stalemate and a union representative on Thursday told Reuters the strikes affecting four refineries and the storage site in Dunkirk were upheld.

TotalEnergies said in a statement on Thursday the conditions to hold wage talks with all unions were not in place as the various blockades continue.

The French oil major also announced it would make a one-off bonus payment to its workforce.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told RTL radio TotalEnergies had “the possibility and therefore the duty” to raise wages, adding the company had “come late” in starting talks with unions after making large profits.

A representative of the union’s branch at Esso France XOM.N had said on Wednesday the walkouts which block two refineries would also continue.

Two weeks into the strikes which reduced France’s petrol output by over 60%, still one in three petrol stations is still struggling with supplies.