TOTALFINA-ELF MERGER: JOBS CALL

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

ICEM UPDATE

No. 51/1999

14 September 1999

The following is from the International Federation of Chemical, Energy,
Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM):

TOTALFINA-ELF MERGER: UNION CALLS FOR JOB GUARANTEES

New oil-to-chemicals giant TotalFina Elf must "put jobs back at the centre
of its industrial plans," French chemical and energy workers' union
FCE-CFDT insists.

Agreement on a merger between the Franco-Belgian group Totalfina and
French-based Elf-Aquitaine was announced yesterday. The new group will be
the world's fourth-biggest oil concern, with some 150,000 employees and a
market capitalisation of 95.48 billion Euro.

The FCE-CFDT notes that the talks between the two groups ended in "a
friendly rapprochement rather than a costly stockholder and legal battle
whose outcome would have been uncertain."

But the union says that "questions about the synergies expected need to be
answered now by the new chairman." In particular, "becoming the world's
fourth-biggest oil producer must not mean forgetting concerns about the
future of industrial plant, exploration, production and refining, and
about the level and location of employment in this sector, notably on the
research side and as regards headquarters and commercial services."

Recalling that France does not have surplus refining capacity, the
FCE-CFDT says the merger will be "an opportunity to modernise French
industrial plant as a whole and prepare it for the introduction of new
environmental standards."

As to the merged group's production of fine and specialty chemicals, the
union insists that this "must not be sacrificed to the financing operation
for development in the oil sector." The new corporation should, the
FCE-CFDT says, draw on analyses made by CFDT unionists within the two
groups, favouring an "integrated" chemicals operation. "For example, the
future of the chlorine chemistry and fertiliser branches calls for
clarifications and commitments, which the FCE-CFDT intends to obtain in
both the industrial and the social spheres." The union also calls for
guarantees on the further development of subsidiary Sanofi-Synthe-Labo.

The new group should rapidly open a social dialogue "on the future of
employment, on the introduction of new work organisation and on work times
and patterns," the union urges. "The FCE-CFDT will do everything possible
to ensure that the merger of the two groups is accompanied by strong
guarantees for workers and jobs, and we will be requesting a meeting with
the new chairman in order to put our views on the group's industrial and
social plans."

At the global level, the FCE-CFDT is affiliated to the 20-million-strong
International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General
Workers'Unions (ICEM).

_________________


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