In April 2006, the French General Confederation of Labour held its 48th confederal congress in Lille. Following a discussion on its report on past activities, the congress confirmed the confederation’s policies during the previous decade. It reiterated, in particular, its commitment to trade union unity and adopted a new system for distributing membership dues.
On 21–27 April 2006, the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) held its 48th confederal congress in Lille in northern France. The confederation’s congress took place just a few weeks after the protest movement against the ‘first job contract’ (Contrat première embauche, CPE) (FR0605059I), and its impact on CGT was noticeable after three years of accumulated industrial setbacks. According to some observers, these setbacks are worrying, especially for CGT.
However, CGT’s future strategy did not emerge as a key issue of controversy during the congress. Some 1,000 delegates present at the congress raised many questions about the way in which their national centre is developing. The confederation’s leadership, which was reaffirmed during the congress, emphasised the need for an internal reorganisation and for improved conditions to facilitate more effective union action.
Report on past activities
CGT’s General Secretary, Bernard Thibault, initiated the proceedings of the congress by giving a detailed outline of the main events of the confederation since its last congress on 22–28 March 2003 in Montpellier (FR0305102N). He thus introduced the discussion on past activities, and only a few delegates challenged the content of his report.
The debate focused on three aspects of the confederation’s past activities, notably:
- ongoing efforts to increase membership and thus raise CGT’s presence in companies where the union has no or few members, compared with its strong representation in the public sector and in major private companies;
- fostering a united trade union movement, by including other trade unions in discussions and, for example, in calls for industrial action; this reflects the aim to create a more unified movement among the different trade union confederations;
- including a European dimension – both in terms of assessing CGT’s involvement in the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and, in particular, following up on the debate concerning the EU Constitution Treaty (FR0505103N). In 2005, the latter led to an internal controversy between the confederation’s leadership, on the one hand, which favoured a certain degree of neutrality, and, on the other, a large number of officers of affiliated trade unions and trade union councils at department level (union départementales, UD), the great majority of whom had supported an anti-treaty policy.
The report on past activities was adopted by a majority of delegates representing CGT’s membership, with 82% of the delegates voting in favour and 18% voting against the report. This therefore confirmed the support for the outgoing leadership regarding its current policy on the confederation’s further development.
Debate on future union policy
Some 25 proposals constituted the basis for the discussion on the confederation’s future policy; these were presented in a policy resolution and submitted to the congress for adoption. Congress participants reviewed basic issues, while a radical wing of the delegates tried to impose a harder line in relation to current social struggles in French society, thus reaffirming CGT’s original identity. This group of delegates was particularly wary about ETUC and the creation of a new international trade union organisation. However, the voting showed that only a minority of delegates supported such a position, with about 20% of delegates voting in favour of these proposals.
Nevertheless, the congress did adopt a number of significant policy developments contained in the resolution, including the following stipulations:
- collective bargaining is to be clearly considered as an integral part of the trade union approach, whereas hitherto CGT only regarded it as an outcome of industrial action;
- the concept of ‘compromise’ was accepted, although the word as such remained contested, which is in line with the practice of CGT branches and affiliated unions;
- the congress also reiterated its commitment, albeit in a low-key way, to trade union unity.
The policy resolution was adopted by a large majority, with 80.4% of the delegates voting in favour of the resolution and 19.6% of delegates voting against it.
Membership dues
The debate on reforming the collection and distribution system of membership dues constituted the most difficult and important issue at the Lille congress; this issue was therefore discussed and decided upon separately. For 10 years, covering three confederal congresses, CGT’s leadership has been trying to garner support for a new centralised system of collecting membership dues and a general system for distributing the resulting income between the sector-level and geographic structures of CGT.
However, these proposals have come up against the opposition of those committed to a trade union system organised in the brand of a decentralised federalism. After heated debate, the new system was eventually adopted by 63.2% of the delegates, which represents a significant majority of CGT’s membership. Despite continued strong resistance, the congress’ adoption of the reform of the membership dues system reinforces the confederation’s leadership in its strategy and in relation to this issue in particular.
Commentary
Although CGT’s 48th congress may not have satisfied all the concerns of the delegates representing the confederation’s membership, it did confirm the support for the development policies put forward by the confederation’s leadership. The congress thus granted legitimacy to the leadership and mandated its General Secretary, Bernard Thibault, to continue developing and modernising the trade union confederation.
Jean-Marie Pernot, Institute for Economic and Social Research (IRES)