The “negotiations are over”: after several weeks of a strike that has spread throughout the nuclear power plants, the management of EDF and the unions reached an agreement on Friday for wage increases, which may ease fears about production as winter approaches.
“The negotiations are over, an agreement will be submitted to the trade unions who will submit them to the staff,” said Friday a spokesman for EDF.
With this announcement, the strikers eased the pressure on the power plants, the main suppliers of electricity in France. The employees of the nuclear power plant in Gravelines (North), the most powerful in Western Europe, were the first to suspend the strike, believing that management had responded to the claims, told AFP Franck Redondo, FO secretary of the CSE of the
plant.
Others followed in the afternoon: Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux (Loir-et-Cher), Bugey (Ain), Chinon, Dampierre, Saint-Alban and Penly (Seine-Maritime). Four of the twelve centers on strike this Friday must still decide whether or not to suspend the movement, said Julien Lambert, federal secretary of the FNME-CGT.
At the Moselle plant in Cattenom, “the movement continues for now, employees want to maintain some pressure until the agreement is signed,” according to a union source.
A notice of strike is also announced in Flamanville (Seine-Maritime) for 21H00, according to the communication service of the plant.
At the end of two days of negotiations, “the 120 euros gross per month increase for all at least are reached,” said to AFP Julien Lambert, federal secretary of FNME-CGT, the majority union.
In detail, EDF management has proposed a 5% increase for the lowest salaries up to supervisors, according to Franck Redondo, FO secretary of the CSE in Gravelines.
The management has been offered a 2.5% increase with bonuses, the amount of which has yet to be finalized. These general increases will be accompanied by individual advances of 2.45%, he said.
The four representative unions (CGT, FO, CFDT and CFE-CGC) have theoretically until Thursday to validate this agreement, a second step after a branch agreement on increases in the electricity and gas industries (IEG) signed on Monday by the CGT, CFDT and FO, without CFE-CGC.
This branch agreement provides for a 3.3% increase, a 1% retroactive increase on July 1 and the remaining 2.3% on January 1, 2023, as well as a supplementary envelope of 80 euros gross per month in 2023 for low wages.
– “everyone gets back to work” –
At Gravelines, a new vote is to be held on Monday to decide whether to stop the strike if the company agreement is ratified by then. “If the agreement is confirmed on Monday, for us, the file is closed, everyone is back to work and we are putting our shoulders to the wheel to connect the power plants to the grid for the French, in full compliance with the law.
security,” Redondo warned.
As the weeks went by, the strike caused delays in the work and maintenance schedule of the nuclear fleet, which heightened concerns about possible power shortages in the middle of winter, in the midst of the European energy crisis.
Tuesday, the manager of the electricity transmission network had even warned: “a prolongation of the social movement would have heavy consequences on the heart of winter”.
Started on September 13, the strike movement has in fact spread over the weeks, until Friday morning to affect 12 plants out of the 18 that the French nuclear park counts. Friday, before the partial lifting of the strike, four reactors had experienced a drop in production while maintenance work was blocked on 18 reactors, France has 56 in total, reported to AFP Julien Lambert.
This will further aggravate the financial problems of the group, whose debt could reach 60 billion euros by the end of the year.
The situation of EDF, 84% owned by the State and soon to be 100% renationalized, is plagued both by the collapse of its electricity production, a consequence of the unavailability of part of its nuclear fleet due to corrosion problems and scheduled maintenance, but also by the application of the tariff shield, which protects the French from excessive increases in energy prices.
