PARIS, July 3 — A workers’ strike at Exxon Mobil’s Esso refinery in Fos-sur-Mer in southern France stopped yesterday and the halted units are being restarted, the company said today.
“We’re doing everything to ensure that operations and supplies resume at the earliest so that we can serve our clients as soon as possible,” said Esso spokeswoman Catherine Lebrun.
The strike resulted in the refinery being temporarily shutdown on Friday.
Exxon’s Fos site has a refining capacity of 7 million tonnes per year, which corresponds to about 10 per cent of national capacity, according to the company.
The walkouts at Esso started on June 28, with workers demanding higher wages to cover inflation. They were part of wider union efforts this week that have hit other energy companies such as state-owned electric power utility EDF.
Lebrun added that talks between management and all related parties led to the ending of the strike, without specifying that any deal had been struck.
Next week, the government is due to introduce new legislation aimed at boosting the purchasing power of families. — Reuters
