Normandy refinery: the appeal of the CGT against the requisitions rejected

The administrative court of Rouen on Sunday rejected the request for interim relief from the CGT contesting the legality of the requisitions of strikers from the TotalEnergies refinery of Gonfreville-L’Orcher (Seine-Maritime) operated Friday by the prefecture, we learned from concurring sources.

In his order, consulted by AFP, the administrative judge considered that the decree of the prefect of Seine-Maritime “does not appear manifestly prejudicial to the right to strike recognized and protected by the convention of the International Labor Organization” .

According to administrative justice, the state of kerosene reserves at Paris Roissy airport only authorized “reasonable operation” for three days. The airport would then not have been able to “maintain air traffic which prevents disturbances of public order linked to the massive presence of passengers deprived of flights” and risked “causing uncertainties likely to impact air safety”.

Still according to the text, the requisition of three or four employees, depending on the shift, for a limited period, “does not tend to set up a normal service but aims to ensure, through a limited but sufficient number of agents and a list reduced to precisely defined essential tasks, a minimum service of pumping and shipping”.

On Saturday, CGT lawyers had notably argued that no service essential to the safety of people and property was affected by the supply difficulties.

“The reality is that the motivations for the decree are lunar”, reacted Sunday the lawyer of the CGT of TotalEnergies Elsa Marcel. “What is at stake is political. The decision comes at a time of intense mobilization against a state that is holding its position. We did not see a judge making another decision in this context”, she declared to the AFP.

“The requisitions are radicalizing the workers. They are angry,” she added, adding that the CGT was considering Sunday afternoon an appeal to the Council of State.