Difficult negotiations between trade unions and employers' associations in the French road haulage industry began in October 2002 over a new sectoral collective agreement on pay and conditions. The prospect of a blockade of the entire road network similar to that of 1996, if the talks failed, hung over the negotiations. Ultimately, an agreement was reached on 24 November, providing for a pay increase 14% over three years, though it was not signed by the CFDT and CGT unions, which called for roadblocks to be set up. These were lifted on 25 November, but CFDT and CGT plan to continue their action in other forms.
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Difficult negotiations between trade unions and employers' associations in the French road haulage industry began in October 2002 over a new sectoral collective agreement on pay and conditions. The prospect of a blockade of the entire road network similar to that of 1996, if the talks failed, hung over the negotiations. Ultimately, an agreement was reached on 24 November, providing for a pay increase 14% over three years, though it was not signed by the CFDT and CGT unions, which called for roadblocks to be set up. These were lifted on 25 November, but CFDT and CGT plan to continue their action in other forms.
On 28 October 2002, the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT) , the largest trade union in the road haulage industry - with 21.3% of the vote in the last works council elections - launched a national day of action in the sector. For the union, this was a way of both firing a 'free warning shot' across the bows of the employers’ associations, and raising awareness among employees of the union’s claims in the negotiations over a new sectoral collective agreement. From the first day, General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) activists joined the action, particularly in the South of France.
On 31 October, during a meeting at the Ministry of Transport of a joint commission comprising representative trade unions and employers’ associations from the industry, the latter - the National Federation of Automobile Road Haulage Operators' Unions (Union nationale des organisations syndicales des transporteurs routiers automobiles, UNOSTRA), the National Road Haulage Federation (Fédération nationale des transports routiers, FNTR) and the Federation of French Transport and Logistics Companies (Fédération des entreprises de transport et logistique de France, TLF) - proposed a 2.5% pay rise applicable from 1 July 2003.
CGT (which won 12.9% of the votes in the most recent works council elections in the sector) and the CFDT then developed a joint platform based on two main points: the restructuring of the collectively-agreed pay scales on the basis of the 35-hour week; and the incorporation of payment for a '13th month' into the practices of the whole industry. The other unions, without endorsing this entire platform, also warned employers about the consequences of their attitude.
The memory of November 1996, when lorry drivers managed to win payment for all hours worked plus early retirement at 55 after a bitter two-week dispute, with 200 roadblocks covering the entire main road network and 10,000 lorries blockading French roads, was a powerful spur to the various actors in the sector. The Transport Minister, Gilles de Robien, stated that he was 'not unduly surprised' by the claim for the '13th month', and wanted dialogue between unions and employers to start quickly in order to find a solution.
On 6 November, CFDT and CGT gave the employers’ associations until 22 November to respond to their demands, under threat of unlimited strike action if they received no concrete response. The industry’s other unions - the French Christian Workers' Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC), the General Confederation of Labour-Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail-Force ouvrière, CGT-FO), the 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) and the independent National Federation of Road Transport Drivers (Fédération nationale des chauffeurs routiers, FNCR) - preferred to call for one last meeting with employers, with no ultimatum attached. CGT-FO also felt that talks should focus on only one topic at a time, the most important being pay, and that other matters (including the '13th month') could not be discussed meaningfully during the same negotiations.
Lengthy talks then took place, extending beyond 22 November, without an agreement being reached. On 24 November, with negotiations still underway, many people feared that blockades would be set up by strikers on roads and motorways if there was no agreement. Yet at around 20.00, the CFTC road haulage unions (accounting for 3.7% of the votes at the most recent works council elections), the CFE-CGC managerial staff union (1%), FNCR (8.2%) and CGT-FO (12.1%) announced their intention to sign an agreement on the basis of a pay rise worth an average of 14% over three years.
CFDT and CGT condemned what they called a 'cut-price' pay agreement and refused to sign up to it, declaring that it would help lower the entire sector’s wages to the level of the SMIC national minimum wage. As a consequence, as early as 24 November, these two unions called for the first roadblocks to be erected.
During the course of 25 November, however, the roadblocks were gradually lifted, and by the evening they had all gone. The mobilisation of the industry’s workers, which turned out to be less sizeable than predicted, together with the efficiency of the police, go a long way to explaining the dispute’s failure.
CFDT and CGT intend continuing their action in other forms.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2002), Agreement reached following action in road haulage, article.
