A few months after difficult negotiations over a 35-hour week agreement which split trade unions and workers at Michelin, the French-based tyre manufacturer, elections of employee representatives were held at the company's plants in Clermont-Ferrand in May-June 2001. The results indicate a change in the balance of power among unions, and particularly growing support for the independent SUD.
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A few months after difficult negotiations over a 35-hour week agreement which split trade unions and workers at Michelin, the French-based tyre manufacturer, elections of employee representatives were held at the company's plants in Clermont-Ferrand in May-June 2001. The results indicate a change in the balance of power among unions, and particularly growing support for the independent SUD.
In a referendum held on 29 March 2001, employees of the Michelin tyre manufacturer gave their approval to a controversial agreement on the reduction of working time reached by the company's management and the CFDT trade union (FR0104145N). In addition to facing opposition from the other trade unions represented at Michelin, CFDT was split at local level, and some of its members left to set up a union affiliated to the independent Solidarity, Unity, Democracy (Solidaire, Unitaire, Démocratique, SUD).
Elections for employee representatives on the works council (Comité d'établissement, CE) and for workforce delegate s (délégués du personnel, DP) took place on 31 May and 14 June 2001 at Michelin's main Clermont-Ferrand sites. Both elections revealed the same trends in support for candidates on the slates of the various unions. Table 1 below gives the results for the elections in electoral college A, in which white- and blue-collar workers vote.
| 1999 | 2001 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | CE | DP | CE | DP |
| No. of employees registered to vote | 8,614 | 8,311 | 8,254 | |
| Votes cast | 5,964 (69.24%) | 5,927 (68.81%) | 6,051 (72.81%), 3.57% | 6,043 (73.21%), 4.41% |
| Support for unions | Vote (%) | Vote (%) | Vote (%), % change | Vote (%), % change |
| CFDT | 2,057 (36.09%) | 2,102 (37.36%) | 1,088 (18.57%), -17.52% | 1,089 (18.72%), -18.64% |
| CFTC | 154 (2.70%) | 59 (1.05%) | 107 (1.83%), - 0,88% | 46 (0.79%), - 0.26% |
| CGT | 2,945 (51.68%) | 3,125 (55.55%) | 2,878 (49.13%), - 2.55% | 2,978 (51.19%), -4.36% |
| CGT-FO | 543 (9.53%) | 340 (6.04%) | 367 (6.26%), - 3.26% | 249 (4.28%), -1.76% |
| SUD | - | - | 1,418 (24.21%) | 1,456 (25.03%) |
Table 2 below gives the results for the elections in electoral college B, in which supervisory and technical staff vote.
| 1999 | 2001 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | CE | DP | CE | DP |
| No. of employees registered to vote | 4,551 | 6,030 | 4,556 | 5,340 |
| Votes cast | 1,664 (36.56%) | 1,758 (29.15%) | 2,159 (47.39%) | 1,870 (35.02%) |
| Support for unions | Vote (%) | Vote (%) | Vote (%), % change | Vote (%), % change |
| CFDT | 991 (63.16%) | 1,239 (83.04%) | 807 (38.37%), - 24.79% | 800 (46.70%), -36.34% |
| CFTC | 85 (5.42%) | 56 (3.75%) | - | - |
| CGT | 208 (13.26%) | 197 (13.20%) | 204 (9.70%), - 3.56% | 214 (12.49%), -0.71% |
| Independents | 285 (18.16%) | - | 310 (14.74%), - 3.42% | 249 (4.28%), -1.76% |
| SUD | - | - | 782 (37.18%) | 699 (40.81%) |
In the third electoral college, for engineers and managerial staff, as had been the case in prior elections, none of the representative unions managed to run a slate of candidates.
As the tables above show, SUD, which did not run in the 1999 elections, made a breakthrough against a backdrop of a higher overall turn-out, becoming the second best-supported union at Michelin, behind CGT.
SUD's breakthrough was achieved mostly at the expense of CFDT, from which SUD broke away locally in the aftermath of the internal differences over the negotiation of the 35-hour week. However, the other unions that contested the 1999 elections also suffered a drop in support, or at least a relative swing towards SUD.
Coming after the referendum that gave wide-scale endorsement to the agreement on the reduction of working time that had been backed most strongly by CFDT, the results from these workplace elections map the emergence of a union situation at Michelin wracked with serious divisions
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2001), Major swing to SUD in Michelin workplace elections, article.
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