In a hotel, a conflict is pitting employees against their management. At stake: the reclassification of the employment contract as a permanent contract for fifteen of them, previously on a fixed-term contract. A CGT delegate has contacted a lawyer. Industrial tribunal proceedings must be initiated. The activist seeks the help of a union representative. The latter advises him not to act in this way and offers to support him in organizing a walkout. The prospect frightens the delegate: “Oh, the strike, me, you know…” He will not follow up.
Such a situation is far from representing an isolated case. The detached relationship to the strike is a reality in the ranks of the CGT in many companies. The methods of action are thus evolving, even within the union itself. This is precisely the subject of study by Baptiste Giraud, lecturer in political science at the University of Aix-Marseille, in his new book, Relearning to strike (PUF).
The author has been working for two years on a “ethnographic observation work” within the Paris Trade Union of Commerce and Services of the CGT. He delivers the conclusions in his essay, revealing the approach to unionism that a “new proletariat”particularly present in the delivery, cleaning and logistics sectors.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers “No to closure”: in Normandy, ExxonMobil employees defend their jobs
Add to your selections
Rich in lessons, immersion reveals the springs of militant commitment. Above all, it is about “protecting oneself from bosses’ authoritarianism”. “The union is primarily invested as a space for access to the protection and legal knowledge necessary to assert employees’ rights”the author continues.
A difficult accompaniment
These service sector activists often have no “union culture” and find themselves helpless in the face of the prospect of conflict with their boss. “convergence of struggles” seems like a very distant concept. And very often, the strike is just as far away. “An old thing”, “of fighters”, “Of civil servants”some unionists believe.
Faced with this observation, the union’s permanent staff are carrying out long-term work of organizing and learning to strike. They insist on the importance of establishing a collective balance of power in the company, with a class-based vision as a point of support, and the need to gain the trust of employees in order to mobilize and lead an effective fight. A delicate exercise in sectors that accumulate handicaps in order to sustainably establish a union culture (fragmentation of structures, precariousness and volatility of the workforce, diversity of employment statuses, personalization of power relations, strong anti-unionism of employers, etc.).
You have 23.94% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
