Change of face but no line. After more than ten years at the head of the CFDT, Laurent Berger announced his departure from the union on June 21. Her replacement is all found. Aged 46, Marylise Léon has been number two in the union for five years, responsible for strategic issues such as unemployment insurance and inter-union relations. No change to expect therefore in the line of the union from the one who becomes the second woman at the head of the CFDT after Nicole Notat (1992-2002).
For several months, she has also often appeared alongside Laurent Berger during meetings with the executive or days of demonstration against the pension reform, representing the CFDT during inter-union meetings. “She is dynamic, she has a strong understanding of the world of work (…) She fought energetically during negotiations on unemployment insurance (…) She is appreciated within the house, she is close people, human”, praised the latter in an interview with the World.
A tenacious negotiator
Born on November 23, 1976, this Finistère, holder of a DESS in chemistry, was environmental safety manager for a consulting firm for several years. She was recruited in 2003 by the chemical-energy federation of the CFDT to provide training for activists on technological risks, particularly following the explosion of the AZF factory in Toulouse.
She took a mandate within this federation in 2008, then was elected in 2014 national secretary in charge of industrial issues. She will then be elected Deputy Secretary General of the CFDT in 2018, then re-elected in 2022.
Mother of two children, this tenacious negotiator, but always optimistic, has been particularly mobilized against the unemployment insurance reforms of recent years which have tightened the conditions of compensation for job seekers. It is also in charge of the Pacte du droit de vivre, an alliance of 60 organizations which acts for the convergence of ecological, social and democratic issues.