A year ago, on May 1, 2023, France was still affected by a very large protest movement against pension reform. For weeks, the different employee representative organizations have called for demonstrations side by side. In vain, two days later, the Constitutional Council definitively confirmed the reform desired by the government. A year later, what remains of union unity?
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“ We must stop the populist stigmatization of the unemployed » is the title of this platform dated March 18 in the newspaper The world and signed by the leaders of the five largest unions of France. For Karel Yon, sociologist and researcher at the Institutions and Historical Dynamics of Economy and Society (IDHES) laboratory in Nanterre, this is proof that the failure of the movement against pension reform did not kill the union unity.
“ We used to oppose a so-called protest pole to another so-called reformist and the main effect of the pension movement is to have somewhat put into perspective these oppositions between union sensitivities. And then the inter-union continued to exist, for the first time, the UNSA and the CFDT were involved, for example, in the feminist strike of March 8. »
The need for trade union organizations to “stick together”
For sociologist Karel Yon, one of the novelties of this movement linked to pension reform is that including an organization like the CFDT had rallied behind a slogan to harden the movement, to bring France to a standstill.
“ And this is also the result of the fact that, including organizations which placed themselves, like the CFDT, most in a perspective of social partnership with employers or the government, feel the lack of response from their interlocutors, specifies the researcher at IDHES. On the employers’ side, it will be the refusal to negotiate on salaries seriously; On the side of the public authorities, it will be a succession of reforms which are presented as each time necessary to reduce public spending and which result in a deterioration of employees’ rights. »
The sociologist believes that on all these levels, for unions, whatever their inclination towards social dialogue or protest, it is almost a vital necessity for trade unionism – that “ all trade union organizations – and they are well aware of this – must stick together “.
One and the same voice against the far right
In this election year, the unions are also speaking with one voice to identify the same danger: “ The far right is the worst enemy of workers ” or ” the CFDT has always been clear, we do not debate with the extreme right, we fight it “. Karel Yon believes that “ when the union movement advances united and puts social issues at the forefront, the nauseating debates on immigration and all racist speeches are completely invisible “.
In addition to social issues – those of wages – the arrival at the head of the unions of a new generation, younger, more feminine, has also made it possible to focus on the fight against sexist and sexual violence at work or ecological transition, so many new vectors of union unity.
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