Thursday, June 23, 2016. During a demonstration against the Labor Law, the headquarters of the CFDT was vandalized. The windows are broken, and the message “It’s over to betray” tagged in red letters on the establishment. The incident symbolizes certain criticisms which then weigh on the “reformist” union: being too conciliatory with the government. During the Hollande five-year term, the CFDT ended up lining up behind all the social reforms, often being the only support of the executive against the challenge.
A choice paid cash in the eyes of the French. Every year, the CFDT carries out a study on its image among employees*. And in 2015, between the adoption of the Macron law and the Labor bill, the union obtained its lowest level: only 42% of employees trusted the CFDT to defend social gains, 40% to advance the social dialogue, and barely 33% to win new rights.
A reform far from the nails of the CFDT
Back to the present and to 2023, where this image of an overly lax union seems far away. Last Sunday, the president of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, spoke of a blockage of the country on March 7, if the government does not reconsider its pension reform project. “We can do it,” he assured. A determined speech, coupled with a very clear opposition from the union to the text from the start. Four years ago, however, the union supported the old plan to overhaul the pension system. Would we then be witnessing a turning point for the organization?
For Guy Groux, a sociologist specializing in trade unionism, it is not a question of a paradigm shift on the part of the union, but just a change of reform. In 2019, the CFDT supported the idea of a universal pension reform for more than ten years, a time when Emmanuel Macron was still unknown on the political scene. “It was therefore not a question of aligning oneself with the government, but of being in agreement with its own principles”, indicates Guy Groux.
Not completely new
The current CFDT guideline is clearer. At the 50th union congress, in June 2022, 67.5% of voters opposed the possibility of increasing the contribution period to benefit from a full pension. An overwhelming majority that clearly indicated the course to follow: the opposition.
We must also not forget that the CFDT has already mobilized strongly against the executive, recalls Guy Groux. And to quote the movement against the Contract of first hiring (CPE), in 2006, which had resulted in an abandonment of the text, and in 2010, the reform of the pensions raising the age of departure from 60 to 62 years.
The government much more radical than the CFDT?
Joel Sohier, author of Trade unionism in France (Ed. Vuibert, 2010), reverses the question. And if it was not the CFDT which had been radicalized, but the government? “If the CFDT seems to oppose this reform so much, it is because this time the government would not have made any concessions to it. And why would he? He saw that attaching the support of the CFDT did not prevent the social surge, ”notes the expert. In 1995, the support of the reformist trade union had prevented neither the massive strikes nor the failure of the Juppé government. Same scenario in 2019, where the support of the federation was far from enough to calm the anger of the street.
But if the CFDT is not essential to the social movements, it can strongly contribute to it. “The current demonstrations are the most important for thirty years in France, notes Guy Groux. There is of course the unpopularity of this reform, but also the participation of the CFDT, particularly in France outside major cities, which helps a lot to organize and train many processions. Far from the lowest results of 2015-2016, the 2022 CFDT study showed an incredible recovery: 60% of employees trusted the union to defend social gains, 59% to advance social dialogue, and 51% to win new rights. In 2021, for the first time in twenty years, the CFDT had an image as positive as the CGT, in a Harris Alternative poll **.
“No change of direction”
The current course of action in the face of the reform would then serve to not lose this dynamic, believes Joël Sohier: “The reform is so unpopular, it would be totally counterproductive for a union not to oppose it. “Especially since the past has been loaded with painful examples, such as when Nicole Notat, head of the CFDT between 1992 and 2022, had to leave the demonstrations of 1995 after being booed, and had even been beaten in 1996 by protesters. “The CFDT is adjusting to this context of massive rejection,” adds Joël Sohier.
But from there to qualifying the union as radical, there remains a big step that the specialist is far from crossing: “Yes, Laurent Berger evokes the possibility of blocking the country on March 7. But he only talks about this day when the other unions talk more about a renewable process in the following days. “On the side of the CFDT, questioned by 20 minutes, the only response given is laconic: “There is no change of course, just great determination. »