Christian Workers’ Confederation holds 50th congress

In October 2008, the French Christian Workers’ Confederation (CFTC) held its 50th national congress in Strasbourg in France. Jacques Voisin was elected President of CFTC for a third term, while the former treasurer, Philippe Louis, is now the General Secretary. The leadership has decided – given the new rules on representativeness – to intensify the trade union’s strategy of increasing the number of branches, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises.

The French Christian Workers’ Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC) held its 50th confederal congress in the northeastern city of Strasbourg from 28 to 31 October 2008. The gathering took place in a slightly tense atmosphere, as two candidates were running for the position of president.

Report on past activities and election results

The report on CFTC’s past activities was presented by Jacky Dintinger, who – according to the union rules – could not stand again for the position of general secretary; the report was approved by more than 64% of those who voted. After commenting on current issues and analysing the economic and social situation, Mr Dintinger gave an account to the approximately 1,500 delegates present of the following information:

• all policies adopted and actions taken by CFTC since the last congress in 2006 (FR0602102N), especially regarding pensions – the confederation opposed the government’s reforms announced in April 2008 (FR0807019I);

• results obtained in the previous elections. At the last industrial tribunal elections (élections prud’homales) at the end of 2002 (FR0301107F), CFTC increased its vote by 2.2 percentage points thus winning 9.7% of the votes. Furthermore, at the last works council (Comité d’entreprise, CE) elections in 2005–2006 (FR0510103F), CFTC won 6.8% of the votes, corresponding to an increase of 0.4 percentage points.

Tensions emerge

The issue of representativeness – which was raised in the debate – led the President of CFTC, Jacques Voisin, to declare that he was confident about the future of the confederation, while at the same time criticising those trade unions that signed the ‘joint position’ regarding new rules on representativeness (FR0808039I, FR0806039I). Mr Voisin considered that: ‘A place exists in the middle of the union scene, between those who systematically oppose everything and those who systematically go along with everything.’ In his view, ‘this place belongs to the Christian trend’ that CFTC has been promoting for almost 90 years. Proof of this is the fact that CFTC is present in companies and wins, on average, 18% of votes – which is well above the thresholds of 8% and 10% set out in the 2008 law on representativeness.

The other candidate for the presidency of CFTC, Joseph Crespo, who is President of the Metalworkers’ Union affiliated to CFTC (CFTC Fédération de la Métallurgie, CFTC Métallurgie), did not speak on this matter during the congress; nonetheless, he had previously publicly criticised President Voisin’s policies. Along with accusations against CFTC regarding money received from the Union of Metallurgy and Mining Industries (Union des industries métallurgiques et minières, UIMM), Mr Crespo reproached Mr Voisin for not preparing for the future of the trade union confederation and also for having plans for merging with one or several other confederations.

Elections to confederal council

However, Mr Voisin, who was re-elected President for a third term at the end of the congress, responded to the various criticisms and called for unity, presenting himself as the person who could bring everyone together. Meanwhile, Philippe Louis, who had been confederal treasurer until the congress, was elected to the confederal council – although receiving significantly fewer votes than the president – and then was elected General Secretary. Mr Louis presented detailed information on the trade union’s finances. The results of the voting left Mr Crespo outside the confederal bureau.

Policy motion

The confederal bureau presented its policy motion (in French, 23Kb MS Word doc), which was approved by 94.5% of the delegates. The motion, which focuses on globalisation, social dialogue and the protection of high quality jobs through new forms of solidarity, provides for the following actions:

• ensuring the development of CFTC and its activities through the ‘worker status’ plan (FR0602102N), which was defended by Gabrielle Simon, who was elected Vice-President. This plan reflects CFTC’s values and commitment to workers, with the aim of improving their employment and working conditions, as well as giving a definition of flexicurity;

• pursuing changes in structures, in particular by grouping together local operations;

• increasing the number of union branches, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), by putting company union sections at the heart of action in order to enable CFTC to strengthen its representativeness at company level.

Challenges facing trade unions and workers

Among the many international trade union guests, who mainly included French-speaking Christian unions, some – such as the Canadian representative – were highly critical of the new French law on representativeness, even seeing it as a threat to democracy. The General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), John Monks, spoke essentially of the economic situation and the crises facing workers. Mr Monks recalled their concerns by referring to the world day of mobilisation for ‘decent work’ (FR0810029I).

CFTC’s 50th congress made it possible to define policy just a few weeks before the industrial tribunal (Conseil de prud’hommes) elections on 3 December 2008, in which CFTC lost 0.7 points – taking 7.8% of the votes. Although these elections do not have an impact on the rules regarding representativeness, they nevertheless give an indication of current support for the various trade unions in both the private and public sectors (except for the civil service).

Benoît Robin, Institute for Economic and Social Research (IRES)