On 10 April 1998, the Supreme Court of Appeal (Cour de cassation- the highest level of jurisdiction in France with the role of verifying judges' implementation of the law) ruled that two trade unions created by the National Front (Front National, FN) - FN-Police and FN-Pénitentiaire (NF-Prison Officers) - were unlawful. The court thus upheld the ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal of 19 June 1997, which declared FN-Police to be illegal, and overturned the decision by the Montpellier Court of Appeal of 9 July 1997, which had dismissed the request to ban FN-Pénitentiare.
France's Supreme Court of Appeal ruled in April 1998 that trade unions created by the National Front are unlawful. This decision could mean that members of the Front-linked CFNT elected in industrial tribunal elections in December 1997 will be declared ineligible.
On 10 April 1998, the Supreme Court of Appeal (Cour de cassation- the highest level of jurisdiction in France with the role of verifying judges' implementation of the law) ruled that two trade unions created by the National Front (Front National, FN) - FN-Police and FN-Pénitentiaire (NF-Prison Officers) - were unlawful. The court thus upheld the ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal of 19 June 1997, which declared FN-Police to be illegal, and overturned the decision by the Montpellier Court of Appeal of 9 July 1997, which had dismissed the request to ban FN-Pénitentiare.
The Supreme Court of Appeal grounded its decision firstly on the fact that these two branches of the National Front were an "arm of a political party" and "exclusively served the interests and aims of that party". More fundamental from a legal point of view was the fact that the court also upheld the terms of the ruling by the Paris Court of Appeal which had found that the FN-Police union was the product of a party that advocated "discrimination based on race, colour, genealogical descent and national or ethnic origin".
The CFDT, CGT and the National Union of Uniformed Police Officers-National Federation of Independent Unions (Syndicat national des policiers en tenue-Union nationale des syndicats autonomes SNPT-UNSA), which had initiated the complaints against the unions created by the FN, stated that they were satisfied with the court's decision.
Another division of the Supreme Court of Appeal, given the task of ruling on the legality of the election of members of the FN-linked French National Labour Confederation (Confédération française nationale du travail, CFNT) to industrial tribunals (Conseils de prud'hommes) in the poll held on 10 December 1997 (FR9712185F), was awaiting the decision. In light of the ruling of 10 April, it could now rule that those CFNT members elected were ineligible and declare null and void those elections where a CFNT member was elected.
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (1998), National Front unions ruled unlawful, article.
