After two and a half weeks of tense negotiations between the management of EDF PEI and the striking employees affiliated with the FE-CGTG, no agreement was reached. The movement, marked by rotating load shedding, could become more radical from Monday. Return to a conflict which is struggling to find a solution.
Published on October 18, 2024 at 7:32 p.m.,
updated October 18, 2024 at 8:14 p.m.
For more than a month, the EDF PEI power plant at Pointe Jarry (Baie-Mahault) has been at the heart of a standoff between management and employees affiliated with the FE-CGTG.
The conflict today seems to be at an impasse, despite discussions that began on October 3 with the arrival of René Le Goff, deputy general director of EDF PEI, specially dispatched to try to defuse the crisis, under the facilitation of DEETS, the Department of Economy, Employment, Labor and Solidarity.
The negotiations, initially launched by the local director of EDF PEI, Gaëlle Prophet had quickly ended when the strikers demanded the presence of the group manager in Guadeloupe, then categorically refusing any discussion by videoconference with the human resources manager proposed by management.
After several refusals, the arrival of René Le Goff, deputy general director of EDF PEI, gave new hope for a rapid outcome.
However, this Friday, October 18, the observation is bitter: despite the discussions, no agreement was found.
In a press release, the management of EDF PEI expressed its regret at the failure of the negotiations, stressing that a memorandum of understanding had nevertheless been proposed, in the hope of ending the conflict.
According to management, the main points of demand would not concern the February 2023 protocol, but additional demands. For those responsible for EDF PEI, the FE-CGTG, “revealed a blocking point on a subject which had already been dealt with in the February 2023 protocol“, preventing any progress.
René Le Goff, after two and a half weeks of fruitless discussions, is announced to be leaving for France, thus marking the temporary end of negotiations in Guadeloupe and “taking note of the CGTG’s lack of desire to find an agreement for an imminent end to the conflict“.
In the meantime, according to a union source, the 10 engines of the plant out of 12 continue to operate.
However, the situation could quickly deteriorate. The same source indicates that the movement could intensify from Monday October 21, increasing the risk of power cuts for the local population. Power cuts which have resumed, notably with the strike of employees at the Albioma du Moule power plant, since yesterday. The company provides 30% of electricity production in Guadeloupe.
The management of EDF PEI ensures that it has “always worked to find consensual exit points in response to the demands of striking staff“, et “regrets that the memorandum of understanding was not signed even though an agreement in principle had been reached“.
The continuation of the conflict therefore remains uncertain, with the prospect of a tightening on the horizon, while this Friday evening, EDF Archipel Guadeloupe announces that rotating load shedding in minimum 4-hour increments is underway throughout the territory, due to the ongoing social movement at the Albioma power plant in Moule. A deficit in electricity production therefore disrupts the department’s electricity supply.
Currently, 10,000 customers in the following municipalities of Baie-Mahault, Lamentin and Petit-Bourg are impacted.
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