The results of France's 2001 works council elections were published in October 2003. Turn-out fell slightly and there was another drop in support for non-union slates of candidates. In the context of a high level of stability in support for the various unions, CGT, CGT-FO and'other unions' each saw their share of the vote rise by around 1% in 2001, compared with 1999.
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The results of France's 2001 works council elections were published in October 2003. Turn-out fell slightly and there was another drop in support for non-union slates of candidates. In the context of a high level of stability in support for the various unions, CGT, CGT-FO and'other unions' each saw their share of the vote rise by around 1% in 2001, compared with 1999.
In October 2003, the Ministry of Social Affairs, Labour and Solidarity published the results of the 2001 elections of employee representatives onworks councils (FR0309102T) (Elections aux comités d'entreprise en 2001. Net recul des non-syndiqués[Works council elections in 2001. Overall decline in support for non-union slates], Christophe Le Moigne,Premières Informations n°43.2, October 2003). As in previous years (FR9905185N,FR0011102F andFR0201111F), these results show a noticeable fall in employee turn-out - down 0.9% between 1999 and 2001 and 1.6% between 1995 and 2001.
In line with the trend in previous elections, there was a clear fall-off in support in 2001 for non-union slates (representatives are elected from slates of candidates presented either by trade unions or non-union groups) - down 2.8 percentage points compared with 1999. Although declining, the total share of the vote for non-union slates (23%) still exceeded that of any of the unions with representative status.
Works council elections are held every two years, with around half of workplaces holding elections in even years and half in odd years. The table below shows the results of the elections held in 2001 compared with previous odd-numbered years. It sets out the number and proportion of votes received by the slates presented by the five main trade union confederations - the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT), General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT), General Confederation of Labour-Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail-Force ouvrière, CGT-FO), French Christian Workers’ Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC) and French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff-General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff (Confédération française de l'encadrement-Confédération générale des cadres, CFE-CGC) - as well as by'other' unions and non-union slates.
| Union | % of votes received | Change in % | Votes | ||
| 1997 | 1999 | 2001 | 1999-2001 | 2001 | |
| CFDT | 20.8 | 22.9 | 22.8 | -0.1 | 382,182 |
| CFE-CGC | 6.4 | 6.3 | 6.1 | -0.2 | 101,399 |
| CFTC | 5.1 | 5.8 | 6.0 | 0.2 | 100,823 |
| CGT | 20.4 | 21.5 | 22.6 | 1.1 | 377,684 |
| CGT-FO | 12.1 | 12.2 | 13.1 | 0.9 | 218,744 |
| Other unions | 5.9 | 5.6 | 6.5 | 0.9 | 108,507 |
| Non-union | 29.3 | 25.8 | 23.0 | -2.8 | 384,331 |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 100 | . | 1,673,620 |
Source: DARES, Ministry of Social Affairs, Labour and Solidarity.
The decline in support for non-union slates has automatically increased the overall union constituency, though against a backdrop of considerable stability. In 2001, CGT, CGT-FO and'other unions' each saw their share of the vote rise by around 1 percentage point compared with 1999. The differences in results from one election to the next, two years later, are generally relatively small, but when seen over a longer period, they do provide indications of changes, that may or may not be confirmed by the results of other workplace elections. The main trends over the past decade are:
a steady rise in support for CFTC (from 4.5% in 1991 to 6.0% in 2001) and, to a lesser extent, CGT-FO (from 11.7% in 1991 to 13.1% in 2001);
a strong increase in support for CFDT in the second half of the 1990s (from 20.8% in 1997 to 22.8% in 2001);
a recovery by CGT in the second half of the 1990s after a dip earlier in the decade (20.4% in 1991, 19.7% in 1995 and 22.6% in 2001); and
stability for CFE-CGC (6.5% in 1991 and 6.1% in 2001).
Since the enactment of the'five-year law' on employment in 1993, companies with fewer than 200 employees can set up a'single staff delegation' (délégation unique), which is entrusted with the responsibilities of both theworkforce delegates (délégués du personnel) and employee representatives on the works council. In firms with fewer than 200 employees that held workplace elections in 2001, single staff delegations now cover 50% of employees. These single delegations were sometimes created in firms where there were no elected employee representatives, but in most cases they replaced existing works councils.
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (2003), 2001 works council election results published, article.
