Court suspends worker requisitioning at TotalEnergies Normandy refinery
06.04.2023 15:41
© Reuters. Une vue de la raffinerie TotalEnergies à Gonfreville-L’Orcher. /Photo prise le 24 mars 2023 à Gonfreville, en France/REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
By America Hernandez
PARIS (Reuters) – An administrative tribunal in the northern French city of Rouen on Thursday suspended requisitions at TotalEnergie’s Normandy refinery, where workers are striking over pension reform, a court document showed.
Workers have been waging a rolling strike at French refineries for several weeks in protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the pension age from 62 to 64 years.
The Normandy refinery in Gonfreville, the biggest in France by output, has had to halt production operations due to the strike action and only been able to make deliveries when the government has requisitioned workers.
The court ruled that the requisition order from Wednesday-Thursday to ensure adequate supplies of petrol ahead of the Easter weekend did not meet the legal threshold and went against the right to strike.
The energy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. TotalEnergies declined comment.
It is the first requisition order to be struck down by a court so far during the protests.
