TotalEnergies: Group CEO announces expected 2% increase for its French employees

Patrick Pouyanne wants to “prevent, not cure. To avoid a “crisis” like last year’s, the CEO of TotalEnergies announced this Sunday on RTL a 2% increase for the group’s employees in France. This increase, which will take place from the middle of the year, is “a down payment for a year-end increase,” the oil giant’s boss said.

A spokeswoman for the group specified that the measure would apply “from July 1” to workers, employees, technicians, controllers, as well as heads of the “general social base”, without specifying how many people out of 35,000 employees. in France.

“We are going to act very quickly: as inflation continues (…) we are not going to wait until the end of the year, as we did last year, for a crisis in regards to wage increases at TotalEnergies,” emphasized Patrick Pouyanne. , in connection with the strikes that paralyzed oil refineries and tank farms for several weeks in the fall of 2022. This movement started at the end of September at the call of the CGT TotalEnergies, demanding a 10% wage increase, caused a deficit. Finally, in mid-October, CFDT and CFE-CGC signed a majority agreement without CGT.

He considers Bourne’s words “not very responsible”

“This year we increased by 7.5%, we increased their bonus by 15%, so the average growth in our company was 10%,” assured Patrick Pouyanne.

The largest oil company posted a net profit of $20.5 billion last year, the largest in its history, mainly due to the sharp rise in oil and gas prices. An overall 10% increase in its CEO’s remuneration for 2023 was also passed by a large majority in May at the group’s general meeting.

In an interview with a Sunday newspaper, the CEO responded to remarks by Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne, who assessed in late May that “climate activists” were “playing their role of warning” by holding demonstrations on the outskirts of the city. AG shareholders of the group, which they accuse of “green laundering”. “I don’t think it’s very responsible,” Patrick Pouyanne said.