Workers at the oil refinery plants of Total went on strike to demand higher wages for all Total workers. Negotiations had been suspended over a disagreement of the appropriate level of negotiations; Total national management refused to enter negotiations, arguing pay raises should be agreed locally. Strikes started at sites in La Mede, Gonfreville and Feyzin, while workers at the Donges plant returned to work after signing a pay deal. Later on all of Total SA refineries resumed operations after employees at Gonfreville voted to return to work, the last to come back after a strike that took 2 weeks. The trade unions CGC-CFE and CFDT agreed to a pay deal with the company. CGT that called for the industrial action didn’t sign.
English: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-27/total-s-five-french-oil-refineries ...
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/27/uk-total-strike ...
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.