2024-01-02 19:16:04
In thirty-nine years of career at Airbus, Dominique Delbouis had not “never experienced this”. An activist for Force Ouvrière (FO) – the number one union within the aeronautics group – he is nevertheless accustomed to the sometimes tough battle waged by employee organizations to hold leadership. But the elections, called at the end of November 2023 to designate staff representatives, were accompanied by excesses «unfortunate»according to him. “They attacked people – me first – by insinuating that I was seeking personal enrichment, he says. There have been lies about the content of the agreements we signed during the past mandate. On a site in Loire-Atlantique, FO delegates were taken to task. » Mr. Delbouis prefers not to dwell on the membership of his harsh opponents, while making it clear that they were often members of the CGT.
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Social democracy is bubbling in France. In companies with at least eleven employees, professional elections, which take place once every four years, follow one another at a sustained pace: they were spread over a period going from 2021 to the end of 2024, but many operations voting were concentrated in the fall of 2023 and during the first weeks of winter which has just started. They are used to renew the composition of the social and economic committees (CSE) – the employee representation body. They will also allow you to calculate the weight unions. At the start of 2025, we will know if the hierarchy has changed compared to the 2017-2020 electoral cycle – the CFDT having at the time climbed to the highest step of the podium, ahead of the CGT and FO.
At the inter-professional level and at the level of each branch, the competing organizations have the obligation to achieve a score of at least 8% if they want to be representative and have the possibility of sitting at the negotiating table. The quest for votes is therefore crucial for the unions, which sometimes results in vicious fights, as at Airbus. There were also sparks at the National Agency for Adult Vocational Training (AFPA). One of the largest operators in the sector, the CFE-CGC – the “white collar” center – presented candidates for all colleges, including for workers and employees, which its competitors have denounced, on the grounds that he should have only sought the votes of management personnel. The dispute could be taken to court.
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