Total Refineries Resume Operation After Strike, Spokesman Says

By Sandrine Rastello

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Total SA refineries in France are functioning normally after a two-day strike disrupted operations at Europe’s third-biggest oil company.

“Work resumed on all sites yesterday evening,” Charles Foulard, a spokesman for the Confederation Generale du Travail labor union said by telephone today. Employees who had voted to halt production yesterday changed their mind after colleagues at two other sites opted against it, he said.

Total on Dec. 12 completed a wage increase proposal for the whole company that will be submitted to unions this week, company spokesman Michael Crochet-Vourey said. The CGT union has decided not to sign it, Foulard said.

Total operates six refineries in France, which have a total capacity of about 52.7 million tons a year, according to data on the Web site of the Union Francaise des Industries Petrolieres, an oil industry trade organization.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sandrine Rastello in Qatar at srastello@bloomberg.net