Four days after the enactment of the pension reform, his announcement made a lot of ink flow. In an interview published yesterday by the newspaper Le Monde, Laurent Berger announced that he would leave the leadership of the CFDT on June 21.
A decision that, in the current social context, was perceived by many as an admission of failure and an act of resignation by the union leader. This was explained by the general secretary of the CFDT to the microphone of France Inter this morning.
Laurent Berger recalled that he should have given up his position in 2022 but that he remained at the head of the organization due to a “political risk”. As for the recent announcement of his departure, this should have happened on March 15, but the context of strong mobilization against the pension reform was not favorable at that time. “Until June 21, I will have the same involvement in all issues,” he assured.
No weakening of the bond
Despite a difficult moment, the union leader mentioned an “internal decision in the CFDT” taken in the collective interest. “. When you have been in a union for about 10 years, you have to know how to deliver, he insisted. I leave my responsibilities naturally in a collective organization. […] I’m not leaving because I’m angry but because these are the deadlines of a collective organization.”
Although he had become a strong figure of trade unionism in France by making the CFDT the first French organization in number of members, Laurent Berger believes that his retirement “does not weaken the inter-union”. “There is a succession and I believe that the CFDT is starting up and the friends that are going to come back are going to do their job,” he rejoiced.
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Source: BFM TV
