The French Democratic Confederation of Labour (French: Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT) is a national trade union center, one of the five major French confederations of trade unions, led since 2023 by Marylise Léon [fr]. It is the second largest French trade union confederation by number of members (625,000)[2] and recently becoming first in voting results for representative bodies,[3] having traditionally been second.
History
The CFDT has its roots in Christian trade unionism of the French Confederation of Christian Workers (CFTC).
After the Liberation of France, a left-wing minority, grouped in the Reconstruction tendency, led an internal debate in favour of the “deconfessionalization” seeking to secularise the CFTC and achieve greater autonomy from political and religious circles with which the confederation's leadership had been associated.[4] The Reconstruction movement also campaigned for left-wing, social democracy and democratic trade unionism without being Marxist, and against the European treaties deemed to restore a capitalist Europe, under the guise of Christian democracy.[5]
This tendency took root in the mineworker and steelworker sections, in the wake of French Resistanceand the Bataille de la production [fr],[4] Gradually the movement grew in strength within the CFTC, becoming its dominant force in to 1960s under the leadership of Eugène Descamps [fr].[6]
The breakthrough came in 1964, when an extraordinary CFTC congress—held at the Palais des Sports in Paris on 6 and 7 November—voted to secularise the CFTC and rename it to the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT). A minority of approximately 10% opposed the change and instead followed Joseph Sauty's [fr] into the immediately refounded "continuation French Confederation of Christian Workers".[7][8]
At first, under the leadership of Eugène Descamps, the CFDT presented itself as a social-democratic confederation close to the Unified Socialist Party (Parti socialiste unifié or PSU) which was led by Pierre Mendès-France. It sometimes acted in concert with the Communist Party aligned General Confederation of Labour (CGT). This alliance took a part in the May 68 upheaval. Then, the CFDT was auto-gestionary.[6]
In 1974, many PSU and CFDT members joined the Socialist Party (Parti socialiste or PS) led by François Mitterrand. With Michel Rocard at their helm, they formed an internal opposition called "the second left". They abandoned the auto-gestionary project and advocated aligning themselves with the European social-democracy model. At the same time, under the leadership of Edmond Maire, the CFDT cut its ties with the CGT.
In the 1980s, after François Mitterrand's election and his choice to follow social democratic economic policies, the CFDT appeared to be a pro-governmental organization. During this time a lot of members and voters were lost. In the 1990s, under the leadership of Nicole Notat, the CFDT chose to distance its strategy from the PS. In this, it supported Alain Juppé's plan of Welfare State reform. It replaced Force ouvrière (FO) as the "main partner" of employers and right-wing governments, and the presidency of social security offices.
In 2003, the support of the new CFDT leader François Chérèque for pensions reform plans caused an internal crisis. Some CFDT members left the confederation and chose the CGT or the autonomous trade unions SUD. However, the CFDT participated with the other confederations to the 2006 conflict about the Contrat première embauche (CPE).
Professional elections
The CFDT won 21.81% of the vote in the employee's college during the 2008 professional elections, making it the second largest trade union in terms of votes in those elections. This result, however, is below the CFDT's 25.23% result in 2002 and its top result to date, 25.35% in 1997.
^ abBénétière, Jean-Paul (15 June 2017). L'union départementale de la CFTC-CFDT de la Loire: Déconfessionnalisation autogestion, crise et résistance au "recentrage" (1944-1988) (in French).
^Paul, Vignaux (1980). De la CFTC à la CFDT : Syndicalisme et socialisme : "Reconstruction" 1946-1972 (in French). pp. 120–130.
^Duriez, Bruno (2001). Chrétiens et ouvriers en France, 1937-1970 (in French). Paris: Atelier : Ouvrières. pp. 195–196. ISBN978-2-7082-3561-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^"La CFDT en bref". Institut Superieur du Travail (in French). Archived from the original on 17 July 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
