Bosses at TotalEnergies said on Sunday they would bring forward annual pay talks with unions if they dropped a blockade of fuel depots and refineries that has led to a shortage of petrol supplies across France.
Bosses at TotalEnergies said on Sunday they would bring forward annual pay talks with unions if they dropped a blockade of fuel depots and refineries that has led to a shortage of petrol supplies across France.
Vehicle owners have faced increasingly long waits to fill their tanks after 10 days of strikes by workers demanding higher wages in response to soaring prices.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher, France's Minister of Energy Transition, said the TotalEnergies offer was a step in the right direction.
"A solution must be found without delay," she added. "The French people must not suffer the consequences of a labour movement any longer. This dispute must end."
TotalEnergies runs around 3,500 filling stations in France. Most of them are low on fuel or even empty for some types.
"If the depot blockades end and with the agreement of all labour representatives, the company proposes to move forward the annual salary negotiations from November to October," TotalEnergies said.
On Sunday, the CGT union branch at the company - which is leading the strikes at TotalEnergies and at Esso-ExxonMobil - said the industrial action would continue but it was open to talks from Monday.
"If we do start talks, it will be based on our demands: a 10-percent salary rise ... retroactive for the year 2022," branch coordinator Eric Sellini said.
Three of Total's refineries are blocked, including its largest, in Normandy, as well as a fuel depot near Flandres in the north.
Aid
The government has dipped into its stockpiles in a bid to bring relief. Fuel tankers were sent out on Sunday to make deliveries to replenish filling stations.
On her arrival in Algiers, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she was being kept abreast of the developments in the row.
"The situation will improve throughout the week," she added. "We have released strategic stocks of fuel to supply gas stations and these deliveries are gradually arriving."
