Europe | French unions

Women take over France’s powerful trade unions

Amid speculation that a departing (male) leader could go into politics

Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT union, Laurent Berger, general secretary of the CFDT union, and Marylise Leon, deputy general secretary of the CFDT union, are present in the trade union square as thousands of demonstrators take part in the traditional May Day demonstration, which in this 2023 edition has the particularity of bringing together all the workers' unions to protest against the pension reform implemented by the French government. Paris on 1 May 2023. (Photo by Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Image: Getty Images
|PARIS

In many respects, this has been a dreadful year for French trade unionism. A four-month struggle against pension reform has come to little. New rules that raise the retirement age from 62 years to 64 have been forced through parliament, without a direct vote, and written into law. Yet France’s unions are upbeat. Why?

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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Spring in their step”

From the May 27th 2023 edition

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