CGT union suspends refinery strike in France

Oct. 21, 2005
The strike that has shut down Total SA's 343,000 b/cd Gonfreville L'Orcher refinery for more than a month was "suspended" Oct. 21, Total CGT labor union coordinator Michel Gogail told OGJ.

Doris Leblond
OGJ Correspondent

PARIS, Oct. 21 -- The strike that has shut down Total SA's 343,000 b/cd Gonfreville L'Orcher refinery for more than a month was "suspended" Oct. 21, Total CGT labor union coordinator Michel Gogail told OGJ. "The strikers have accepted to negotiate for after a month it is difficult to keep the whole refinery shut down," he said.

A meeting to be held Oct. 22 was to include discussions on a reevalutation of job classifications. Although the tone was conciliatory, Gogail indicated that the strike could be resumed if strikers and management could find no common ground.

The strike, begun by union CGT, involved 70 workers of the key product mix, transfer, and delivery division. Workers complained that their salaries compared unfavorably with those of other divisions (OGJ Online, Oct. 18, 2005).