Employees take control of Total refinery

[cyu]

Excerpts from http://libcom.org/news/total-refinery-dunkerque-occupied-16022010

http://libcom.org/files/imagecache/article/images/news/photo_1266319519870_4_0[1].jpg

Striking workers occupied Total's refinery in Dunkerque

At least 150 workers stormed the buildings this morning, forcing their way past security guards and at one point using ladders to gain entry to the offices on the higher levels of the buildings. Workers took the action after union demands for a mediator in negotiations and for the removal of security guards from the site were ignored.

The site has been closed since September due to "a structural and durable fall in the consumption of petroleum products". Fearing that Total would try to close the site altogether workers launched the strike and later the occupation.

a CGT member and spokesman for the occupiers said that they would no longer negotiate with the director nor the local human resources department who had repeatedly refused to meet them. He stated "We will stay in these buildings until we have received what we are asking for. We don't want more blah-blah-blah... We won't budge until we have a response." He also stressed "We aren't crooks, it's out of the question that we'd damage our equipment. We have been peaceful since the beginning of this action. We aren't calling for violence."

[Saorsa]

"a structural and durable fall in the consumption of petroleum products"

Are they serious???

[Communist]

________________

Total workers occupy Dunkirk refinery offices (http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=93870)

Reuters

http://www.businessday.co.za/toolpages/thumbnail.aspx?id=351694&type=imgA mock guillotine with a model dressed as a worker of French oil giant Total is installed at the oil refinery in Mardyck near Dunkerque today, as workers stormed the administrative building and occupied offices of management to protest against a possible closure, a trade union source said. Unions have called an open-ended strike at Total's French refineries to try to obtain a commitment by the oil group not to close down its Dunkirk refinery in northern France.


LILLE — Workers in all Total refineries across France will begin a 48 hour strike from tomorrow to back their Dunkirk colleagues, two Total trade union spokesmen told Reuters on Monday. Unions held a strike in early January but this did not impact supply.

About a hundred Dunkirk strikers today pushed aside police and security forces in the hall of the administrative site to get to the offices, a union source said.

Total, Europe’s largest refiner, said only about 30 strikers were occupying the offices of the plant that employs around 600 staff and stopped producing fuel products in September due to low margins and low demand.

The local director had left his office beforehand, both Total and the union source said.

“The management’s offices were invaded this morning,” Maxime Delanoix, head of communication at the Dunkirk refinery said. “There are about 30 people occupying the offices at the entrance of the site but they allow workers who are not striking to come and go.” Delanoix said these strikers were now holding a meeting to discuss future action.

French workers have held managers hostage several times amid increasingly bitter labour disputes as some companies cut costs to boost profits in times of recession by closing sites or slashing jobs.

A strike has been going on since mid-January at the 137000 barrels-per-day Dunkirk refinery, which accounts for 13% of Total’s refining capacities in France.

Total has been struggling for several years with its European refining branch and has vowed to cut production capacity by 500000 bpd between 2007 and 2011.

The French group delayed on February 1 a decision on whether to close Dunkirk permanently to avoid embarrassing the government before regional elections on March 14-21, analysts have said.

Total officials told Reuters on Monday the management would hold on March 29 an extraordinary meeting with unions to decide on the future of the plant.

But unions said they were fed up awaiting the fate of the refinery’s future after

“The date of March 29 is too late. We’ve had enough, we want to be informed,” said Philippe Wullens, representative of the Sud labour union.

Total has said no redundancies would take place if Dunkirk was closed and workers would either be offered another job in the group or be given early retirement.

[the last donut of the night]

Ahh, gotta love the French proletariat!:wub::wub::wub:

[Saorsa]

“There are about 30 people occupying the offices at the entrance of the site but they allow workers who are not striking to come and go.”

Does anyone know if this is true? Why are scabs being allowed to come and go?

[Red Commissar]

I suppose they may not want to overstep their boundaries. Occupying a factory is going to incur some legal problems to begin with as expected, and the last thing they need is the media to blow a confrontation with scabs out of proportion.

[Bitter Ashes]

I am wondering actualy whether you could convince scabs to work slow... In theory it should actualy be easier than convincing permanent workers because it won't look bad on thier personel record. That way, they won't be breaking the strike, but you don't have to have pictures plastered on the news of you beating the crap out of people (even if they are scum).

[cyu]

Excerpt from http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/International/French-oil-refineries-strike-spreads-3841.html

Employees on Thursday voted for "an unlimited strike at all the plants" in France

The CGT union then called for a one-day strike at the two refineries in France run by Exxonmobil, the biggest US oil company, to support the Total workers, citing similar restructuring proposals at Exxonmobil.

The Total strike on Friday also affected seven of the company's 31 depots which supply about half of France's filling stations.

The director of the Feyzin refinery, Jean-Pierre Poncin, said however that "if the strike continues, there will be tension in the Rhone-Alpes region (in southern France) in the coming days" since some oil depots were also on strike.

[The Vegan Marxist]

This is amazing! I say fuck negotiations & to just take it over permanently. Let the workers rule & let the bosses die!