After six days of strikes that have dried up several hundred service stations in France, the spokesman of the CGT federation of transport announced on Thursday morning that the supply of Fuel should resume on Thursday.
Fabrice Michaud, spokesman of the CGT federation for transport, said Thursday morning that “the recovery” of labor in the fuel depots should be “effective” in the day.
“Normally the recovery should be effective. We expected to find a normal situation today “ (Thursday), he said, but added that general meetings were still ongoing.
“In principle” all the strikers were to resume on Thursday, lifting of the pickets and “no more filter dams” on the access roads to the ten oil depots in the Ille-de-France.
The CGT has initiated a strike since last Friday resulting in particular supply difficulties in Ile-de-France . In the center of the conflict, is the improvement of the working conditions of tanker drivers and drivers of hazardous materials.
996 still affected stations
Thursday morning at 10 am, 413 stations were experiencing a partial shortage and 583 stations were totally out of fuel.
“A little time”
Thursday morning, the French Union of Petroleum Industry (UFIP), whose members represent 550 stations just in the Ile-de-France, said that they will “observe a gradual return to normal to load at oil depots” .
“It will take some time for all stations return to their normal levels” , said the organization, half of the Paris network was “completely empty” the day before, with the situation remained “near normal” elsewhere.
Some oil depots unblocked
No strikers from the CGT were present in the early morning at the entrance to the Grandpuits refinery in Seine-et-Marne, according to police.
In the Val-de-Marne, trucks could normally supply the filing of Villeneuve-le-Roi, according to the prefecture. At Vitry-sur-Seine, where the strike is over, the situation to normal is announced for Friday however.
At the port of Gennevilliers, in Hauts-de-Seine, the strikers decided to return to “promote the well under negotiations” but warn that they will closely follow the discussions, “determined to obtain all of (their) claims”.
Advanced after a meeting at the Ministry of Transport
Wednesday evening, after a three-hour meeting at the Ministry of Transport , she praised “significant progress” , including a timetable of discussions.
The strike and filter dams have slowed the activity of several oil depots in the Paris region, with consequences on many stations. On Wednesday, the government asked motorists not to give in to “panic” .
Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne had acknowledged “some supply difficulties” but no “shortage” and asked motorists “to keep to their normal fuel consumption habits” .
Discussions
During the meeting at the Ministry, it was decided firstly to discussion on the 16th June on safety and health, as proposed by the four other unions (CFDT, CFTC, FO and CFE GSC) to revise the contract including type transport hazardous materials, unchanged since 2007.
This “should answer in large part to claims of employees on better working conditions and above all ensure that companies can not derogate from a number of devices”, said the spokesman of the CGT Jerome Truth.
On the other hand, the start of discussions on trades classifications and pay scales for all road transport was advanced twenty days, to the 19th June.
Discussions spread over time
This first meeting will establish “the calendar, but we really begin on the 10th July and threads will be spread in time because it concerns 700,000 employees”, told AFP Thierry Douine, representative of the CFTC.
For Patrick Blaise (CFDT), “the proposal of discussions helped unblock the situation” while the employers’ federations, and FNTR TLF particularly disagreed to start talks under pressure from the CGT.
Other unions were not associated with the call of the CGT because they do not want to break up the collective agreement, a situation which would, according to them, in situations of inequality and promote social dumping in the sector.
In a statement on Thursday, the FO Transport union claims to “obviously agree” with the claims of the CGT, “but for all road transport drivers”.
