CGT-FO holds congress
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In February 2004, France's CGT-FO trade union confederation held its 20th congress. Marc Blondel, the general secretary since 1989, retired and Jean-Claude Mailly was elected to succeed him.
The General Confederation of Labour-Force Ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail-Force Ouvrière, CGT-FO) - one of France's five nationally representative trade union confederations - held its 20th national conference on 2-6 February 2004. Since its last conference in 2000 (FR0003150N), CGT-FO has faced mixed fortunes in terms of its support in employee representative elections. The confederation has on occasions experienced a drop in its share of the vote, especially in the December 2002 joint industrial tribunal (conseils de prud'hommes) elections (FR0301107F) and more recently in the November 2003 workplace elections in the hospitals sector (FR0402105N). However, in other polls it has seen stability in its support and even slight advances, as in the 2001 works council elections (FR0311102N) or in the November 2003 workforce elections at Electricité de France (EDF) (FR0401101N).
Marc Blondel, general secretary since 1989, announced some time prior to the conference that he was to retire due to age, leading to a race to succeed him. Jean-Claude Mallet, the CGT-FO secretary with responsibility for welfare and a former chair of the National Employed Workers' Sickness Insurance Fund (Caisse nationale d’assurance maladie des travailleurs salariés, CNAMTS), officially announced his candidacy in March 2003. Part of Mr Blondel’s inner circle during the latter’s election to the leadership of CGT-FO in 1989 during the problematic succession to the previous general secretary, André Bergeron (in office from 1963 to 1989), Mr Mallet became chair of the CNAMTS a few years later. He and Mr Blondel gradually moved apart, in particular after demonstrations and strikes in November-December 1995. He sought to embody an openly 'reformist' style of unionism, in contrast to a more radical, protesting and demand-based style.
In September 2003, Jean-Claude Mailly, the CGT-FO press and communications secretary announced that he was running for the post of general secretary. A close associate of Mr Blondel since the early 1980s, he had often been referred to by Mr Blondel as his spiritual 'son'.
Lastly, in December 2003, Gérard Clément, secretary of the inter-départementale Drôme-Ardèche branch, announced his candidacy, stating that neither of the two existing candidates was addressing CGT-FO’s future or direction. He defined his plans for the confederation in a pamphlet called 'Force Ouvrière, the union for the 21st century: modern, reformist, effective and on the offensive' (Force Ouvrière, le syndicat du XXIè siècle, moderne, réformiste, efficace, offensif).
Seeking to avoid a 'fratricidal' internal struggle, Mr Blondel attempted to obtain a vote by the national confederal committee (CGT-FO’s 'parliament', which meets twice a year) in September 2003 to decide between the candidates in advance. This fruitless initiative actually had the contrary effect of exacerbating the competition between the candidates.
In January 2004, however, after assessing his chances of winning, Mr Mallet withdrew his candidacy, and was soon followed by Mr Clément. So on the eve of the conference, Mr Mailly was the sole candidate for the position of general secretary. He was duly elected.
The debates among the 3,000 conference delegates thus primarily addressed recent and current events, especially the spring 2003 campaign against pension reform (FR0306104F), and current government plans such as those dealing with sickness insurance (FR0402107F), reform of social dialogue (FR0401110F) and the privatisation of state-owned companies and their opening up to competition. The activity report and financial statement were approved by a large majority of delegates (88.63%) at the conference. The CGT-FO executive, the confederal bureau, now contains 13 confederal secretaries. The executive intends to locate itself politically as an the inheritor of the demands-based platform propounded in recent years by Mr Blondel, but it brings together the organisation’s various tendencies - Mr Mallet and four of his supporters have seats on it.
In the coming months, the new general secretary plans to focus on CGT-FO’s actions in a few crucial areas: social security and sickness insurance; the 'mobilisation on employment' (mobilisation sur l'emploi) law planned by the government for spring 2004 (FR0402108F); and the defence of public services.