The battle for pension reform may be lost to its opponents, but the unions do not emerge weak. On the contrary: the number of adherents to the different organizations has not stopped rising since the beginning of the social movement.
At the beginning of May, the CGT had more than 40,000 new affiliates since the beginning of the year, as much as the entire previous year. The CFDT, for its part, has recorded just over 43,000 new affiliates in the first five months of the year, compared to 8,000 new affiliates for the entire previous year.
“Reappropriation of unions by workers”
“They told us dead during the yellow vests and the confinements, it is proof that they were not”, advances Cyrille Lama, federal secretary of Force Ouvrière, who notes a “reappropriation of the unions by the workers” thanks to the movement against the reform Retirements His organization estimates that some 25,000 new people joined between January and May 2023.
Above all, what all unions have seen is the (very) strong increase in online membership. Classically, union recruitment normally takes place in the countryside, within companies or in processions of protesters. If this proximity work has maintained all its importance in the social movement, there have been spontaneous adherences.
A positive sign, because it means “that we are reaching people who are far from unions and unionism in general,” we explained on the CFTC side, where the increase in online affiliates was close to 200%.
Youth and private employees
The new members reflect the processions that have pounded the pavement across France in recent months. Many young people – those under 35 years of age represent 35% of the new members of the CGT, for example – but above all many employees of the private sector, especially of small and medium-sized companies where unionism had not necessarily been structured until now .
There are also employees of individuals, in particular cleaning women, or even employees of small structures such as bakeries.
What to do with these new members?
But shouldn’t we be afraid of a short-lived renaissance? Don’t panic about the unions, who say they are ready to welcome this new group of activists. Trainings, meetings, internships, webinars: the objective is to quickly integrate new members into the life of the organization.
With professional elections approaching, it is also necessary to find a place for them on the candidate lists. “These new members want to be fully committed” to their arrival in the union, “these are profiles that we did not see much before,” says Cyrille Lama.
Because that is where the main interest of a strong increase in membership lies: to have more influence in the trade union world, through the results of professional elections, and to make their demands be better listened to by companies up to the top of the State. – without forgetting that it is also a net increase in income thanks to union dues.
With, on the union horizon, the next battles for the employment of the elderly, hardships or salary increases.
Source: BFM TV
