Total refinery workers will join a sector strike next month against the possible liquidation of the former Petroplus refinery in northern France, the French major's union representative said on Friday.

On Nov. 5, workers from the Petit-Couronne refinery of the insolvent Swiss firm will know their fate.

Yvon Scornet, the Petit-Couronne union head, sent a statement this week saying the CGT was calling for a rolling strike in the French refinery sector from Nov. 5 but Total's union head said the strike would only last one day.

"For the moment, we're on a 24-hour strike," Charles Foulard, CGT union coordinator at Total told Reuters.

"Morale in refineries is not good," Foulard added. "Workers are extremely worried about their future after all the news of capacity cuts in Europe."

Earlier this month, the commercial court in Rouen rejected two bids to take over the Petit-Couronne oil refinery, the oldest in France, sending it into liquidation unless a new offer is submitted by Nov. 5.

"When they see Petroplus workers weep on television, it's normal to think that the movement could quickly become more radical," Foulard said.

The closure of Total's Dunkirk refinery in early 2010, where images of emotional workers had been broadcast on every national news bulletins, helped trigger a 2-week strike at all of the major's French refineries.

Fuel supplies were also disrupted in the second half of 2010 when a 5-week long strike in the port and refining sector halted output at French refineries.

At Total's investor day in London last month, the group said the merger of its refining and chemical units should deliver $650 million in cost savings by 2015.

The move will not involve layoffs, it said last year.

French and European refiners have been struggling for years due to poor margins, weak demand and a surplus of gasoline capacity, while the traditional market for French gasoline exports, the United States, has dried up.