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Strike ends at Total refinery in western France

[December 22, 2013]  PARIS (Reuters) — Workers voted to end a strike over pay at Total's <TOTF.PA> Donges refinery in western France on Sunday, the oil company said, though industrial action continued at three other plants.

The hardline CGT union led the walkout at the 230,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery near Nantes after rejecting an annual pay rise deal reached with moderate unions.

"The strike action has ended at Donges," a Total spokeswoman said, without saying why the workers had taken that decision.

Workers were reporting to their posts and "production units are in the process of ramping up", she added, declining to say how long they would take to restart.

CGT union officials at Donges were not immediately available for comment.

Production remained shut down at the three remaining plants — the 339,000-bpd Gonfreville refinery in Normandy, the 155,000 bpd La Mede plant near Marseille and the 119,000 bpd Feyzin plant near Lyon in eastern France.

On Friday, the head of France's oil industry group told Reuters the strikes would not disrupt fuel supplies for motorists over the Christmas period, as imports from neighbors and stored oil would make up any shortage.

CGT officials has said the company's offer of an annual wage increase of up to 1.5 percent was insufficient.

Total said the pay package actually brought in rises of up to 3.5 percent, when seniority and performance payments were included.

(Reporting by Nicholas Vinocur; editing by Andrew Heavens)

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