24 November 2018, News Wires — French oil sector workers voted on Friday to extend a strike over pay at four of the country’s seven refineries, which could lead to a shutdown at a Total facility near Paris from Sunday, the CGT union said.
Unions rejected on Thursday 1.5 percent salary increase offer by employers and had urged their members to step up the strike, which began on Wednesday.
Total’s Grandpuits refinery south of Paris is one of the refineries where workers are striking, and it only has enough crude oil to continue functioning until Sunday midday, Thierry Defresne of the CGT told Reuters.
There was no immediate reaction from Total.
However, workers at two of the refineries that had been on strike – Total’s Donges refinery in the northwest and Exxon Mobil Corp’s Fos-sur-Mer refinery in the south – voted to suspend their action pending salary talks, Defresne said.
