The “negotiations are over”. After several weeks of a strike that spread oil in the nuclear power plants, the management of EDF and the unions reached an agreement on Friday, October 21 for wage increases, which may ease the fears on 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 a spokesman for EDF on Friday.
In detail, the management of EDF has proposed a 5% increase for low salaries up to supervisors, according to Franck Redondo, FO secretary of the CSE in Gravelines (North). Management was offered a 2.5% increase accompanied by bonuses, the amount of which remains to be finalized. These general increases will be accompanied by individual advancements of 2.45%, according to him. At this announcement, the strikers released the pressure on the power stations, the main suppliers of electricity in France.
Employees of the Gravelines nuclear power plant, the most powerful in Western Europe, were the first to suspend the strike, believing that the management had responded to the demands, explained to AFP Franck Redondo, secretary FO of the CSE of the plant. Others followed in the afternoon: Chooz (Ardennes), Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux (Loir-et-Cher), Bugey (Ain), Chinon (Indre-et-Loire), Dampierre (Aube) , Saint-Alban (Haute-Garonne) and Penly (Seine-Maritime). Four of the twelve centrals on strike this Friday have yet to decide whether or not to suspend the movement, said Julien Lambert, federal secretary of the FNME-CGT.
At the Moselle power station of Cattenom, “the movement continues for the moment, the employees want to maintain a certain pressure as long as the agreement is not signed”, according to a union source. A strike notice is also announced in Flamanville (Seine-Maritime) for 9 p.m., according to the communication department of the plant. The four representative unions (CGT, FO, CFDT and CFE-CGC) theoretically have until Thursday to validate the agreement.