2023-06-21 18:03:56
The emotion was there, Wednesday, June 21 at the Zénith de Paris, for the passing of the torch between Laurent Berger and Marylise Léon. The applause will have been as much to greet the one who spent eleven years at the head of the trade union center as to greet the arrival of the one whom the national office has, unsurprisingly and unanimously, elected new general secretary of the CFDT .
Cheers from members of the @CFDT gathered at the Zénith de Paris after the announcement of the election of @MaryliseLeon as new general secretary pic.twitter.com/OLsacf7Czu
— Nicolas Seneze (@NicolasSeneze) June 21, 2023
“It’s a huge responsibility: it’s obviously complicated to succeed someone who remained secretary general for eleven years. But Laurent has led the house on the right track”admitted to the press the new general secretary, who will now embody the first French union.
“But I also know that the workers are waiting for us at the turn: there is still a lot of concern and anger and we have to find ways to continue to express this anger and find positive outcomes”continues the one who intends to make progress on working conditions and hardship.
“Today there is pride in being at the CFDT”
In the ranks of activists, no one doubts the ability of the new secretary to lead the boat. And it’s hard to find a critical voice. “What we wear is not Laurent Berger’s program or that of Marylise Léon, tempers Olivier Casals, of the General Union of National Education (Sgen) Nord-Pas-de-Calais. It is the CFDT program that was built collectively and validated by the congress. »
“There are debates, but these are contradictory debates whereas, in the 1990s, I experienced split debates that blocked ussays Elisabeth Le Gac, former secretary general of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional union, who sat on the national office from 2008 to 2018. Today there is pride in being at the CFDT: in the past, I would never have dared to take out a CFDT bag on the train! »
The activists gathered are however aware of the challenges that await an organization emerging stronger from the battle for pensions. According to a Kantar survey published on Wednesday June 21, 59% of French people trust the CFDT to “defend the interests of workers”.
“There will be a lot to do”
“Confidence in trade unions has never been so strong: 74% of French people believe that they have expressed the concerns of workers, therefore done their job as trade unions, explained to the tribune Gilles Finchelstein, the director general of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation. And they have never had so much confidence in the CFDT which jumped 15 points. »
“The battle for pensions was not a defeat for the unions, but it was one for the workers, warns Elisabeth Le Gac. There will be a lot to do. There is such a level of anger! At 60, I learned to control this anger, but I would be twenty today, I don’t know what could happen…”
A good part of Wednesday’s day at the Zénith will have been devoted to how to welcome, support and retain the 43,000 new members who have joined the ranks of the CFDT since January.
“Collective action makes you stronger and freer”
“There are high expectations, assures Sylvie Henriot, of the Syndicate of Private Education of Côtes-d’Armor, but the fight against pensions has shown that we can be strong when we start working together, between unions of different professions. “We will not make unionism attractive until we can show workers that they can act where they are”continues Maguelone Escande Mus, general secretary of the Occitanie finance union.
“Collective action makes you stronger and freer”insisted Marylise Léon in conclusion of her speech to the activists, addressing in particular the members, many having arrived by Internet and not yet having a link with a union.
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