ExxonMobil is shutting down operations at its 236,0000 b/d Port Jerome refinery and adjacent petrochemical plant in Normandy, France, because of a strike by workers, the CGT trade union said on Thursday, adding that the industrial action "is poised" to spread to other ExxonMobil sites in the country.
The process of shutting the refinery is underway, while the petrochemical plant has been stopped after workers started closing down a number of units in the last 36 hours, according to the CGT. The local prefecture has ordered a skeleton staff to stay at the petrochemical plant to ensure safety. "The management, helped by the prefecture, has requisitioned them, to oblige them to work," said the union.
Workers at a polymers unit had to wait before being allowed to leave the plant, with the union accusing management of "complicating shift relief".
The CGT and the Force Ouvriere union called for the industrial action on the evening of 20 September, following the failure of wage negotiations. "The demands of the striking workers are the reopening of wage negotiations with proposals from the management consistent with the princely profits made by the company in the first half of the year," the CGT said.
The CGT expects the strike action to spread to other ExxonMobil sites in France. "Workers at the [133,000 b/d] Fos refinery as well as our colleagues at Toulouse are going to join the strike," said the union. Toulouse is the location of ExxonMobil's major French oil storage depot. Workers there "will probably go on strike today or Friday", the CGT said.
Members of the CGT picketed the Port Jerome refinery earlier. The union said it plans to "start raising money to establish a strike fund for a long dispute".
ExxonMobil said yesterday that the situation "may impact" its customers, contractors and suppliers. There does not appear to be any impact at the moment on crude tankers discharging at either Le Havre or Fos-Lavera.
By Adam Porter
