WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, UCL AL #359 - Spotlight - Unionism: Unite to Fight Better (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 On May 1, 2026, the CGT and the FSU may march under the same banner.

This upheaval in the union landscape is confirmed with joint lists in
the civil service elections. This scenario, unthinkable a few years ago,
is now possible. This turning point could be one of the starting points
for a revival of militant unionism. ---- A low union density rate around
10% and stable for about thirty years. Increasingly weaker involvement
of members in union life. Some successful days of mobilization, but
strike rates are largely insufficient to twist the arm of the employers.
The militant unions are limiting the damage but are struggling. The CGT
is struggling to renew itself. The FSU is reaching the limits of its
union model. Solidaires is marking a halt and gradually losing the spark
of its founding generation. It's time for introspection. Especially
since the far right is on the verge of power.

5 Years of Tools
For several years, unity in struggle has sparked attempts at
rapprochement between these three organizations. In 2021, Solidaires
reaffirmed its desire to explore possible self-improvement with other
organizations, without naming any. In 2022, the FSU added Solidaires to
its ideal unification plan. Discussions between the CGT and FSU
leaderships are progressing but are struggling to gain traction among
members.

In 2023, the CGT confederal congress is going poorly for the outgoing
leadership. Federations are pushing to turn their backs on Solidaires.
The rapprochement with the FSU will also be contested but will not be
stopped. At this same time, the CGT will leave the Ecological and Social
Alliance (AES). In 2024, at the Solidaires congress, the "union
reorganization" was a thing of the past. Solidaires then moved toward an
internal debate on "the evolution of unionism"[1]. What is the
appropriate union tool in 2025?

A CGT-FSU roadmap is taking shape without Solidaires. The horizon is
2026 or 2027 to test the hypothesis of a new tool bringing them
together. The 2025 FSU congress largely endorsed the CGT-FSU
rapprochement approach, while establishing a few safeguards and leaving
the door open for Solidaires. There will be no "as is" absorption into
the CGT. The time has come to build a "common house" where each of the
structures "will fully retain its independence and its own operations."
Building a new tool, without destroying its own tool.

For a unified fighting unionism
United practices are being established. Joint CGT-FSU lists already
exist, for example at the Ministry of Agriculture, where the union
already includes a Sud union. In some departments, the CGT and FSU are
mutually invited to the decision-making bodies of the Departmental
Unions (UD). Joint training sessions are held regularly. We should also
pay tribute to the united work of the Women's Inter-Unions and the
Vigilance and Anti-Fascist Union Initiatives (VISA) collective, which
were a kind of precursor. United work at the grassroots level is
essential to achieve the unification we are calling for[2].

We may fear a strengthening of the "co-management" component of
unionism. Perhaps even more so when Solidaires is far removed from the
process. But we prefer to focus on the momentum this could generate
within our social camp[3]. The arrival of new members could bring a
breath of democracy and struggle to the "common house." The local unions
(UL) could regain momentum, and labor exchanges could once again become
true centers of protest. With the end of double or triple duty of
activism, renewed momentum will be generated by campaigns targeting
union deserts, in line with all social movements. The electoral
hiatuses, a sort of truce in mobilizations to focus on fratricidal
elections, would also be behind us.

A dynamic underway
With Solidaires removed from the process, the CGT confederation
simplifies its task. The CGT federations covering the union organizing
fields where Solidaires is well established will not be stepping up (in
the rail or health and social services, for example). On the FSU side,
there will certainly be some sparks in the territorial civil service,
particularly in the overseas departments and regions. But the FSU is
essentially focused on the education sector, where the CGT's presence is
real, but ten times less significant.

The scenario of "absorption into the CGT" without any further dynamic is
receding, and that's a good thing. It would have met with rejection from
the union teams, and we would have quickly returned to square one.

But the question of internal democracy remains. One of the major issues
will be the future of the FSU's internal "right to influence" (droit de
tendency), which doesn't fit with the CGT's federal functioning. This is
all the more true when a tendency is, in fact, created and led by a
political faction, whereas the CGT is trying to definitively turn the
page on its collusion with the PCF. The Amiens Charter is never far from
the toolbox.

More generally, the question of internal democracy remains. Solidaires
was built outside the CGT largely on this issue. And even if Solidaires
is temporarily no longer involved in the discussion, its activists are
following the momentum of rapprochement... and are questioning their
future union membership. The activists of Sud éducation are particularly
concerned, as they are active in the most impacted area of
​​unionization. They are also often the driving force behind Solidaires'
interprofessional unions and unions. This provides further motivation
for all Solidaires activists to truly open the debate on the union tool
and discussions with their counterparts in the CGT and FSU.

Slow-burning unification?
A unifying campaign, union democracy, and a relationship with social
movements, institutions, and political organizations. These political
debates are important and will take time[4]. They will, in any case, be
dictated by reality, whether it comes from our social camp or from the
state and employers. A future large-scale social movement could be an
opportunity to foster this dynamic and inaugurate the common house. It
will be a matter of being ready to foster its construction in the
cauldron of struggle.

It can be an intermediate step in a more organic and broader unification
process fostered by shared practices and united campaigns. The reopening
of hostilities over the pension battle could accelerate the momentum.
Even more so if the "co-management" unions (CFDT, CFTC, CFE-CGC) don't
put their gloves back on. There will also remain the possibility of a
far-right takeover, accompanied by frontal attacks on the labor movement
and its tools for emancipation. Comrades, let's equip ourselves!

Francis (UCL Marseille)

Validate

[1]Balance of Power, Union Restructuring: Solidaires Makes Little
Progress at Congress, but Wants to Continue the Debate

[2]Libertarian Alternative, Union Unification: The Foundations of the
Common House

[3]Second Congress of the Libertarian Communist Union, Revolutionary
Syndicist Reflection

[4]Contretemps,[CGT, Solidaires, FSU: Should We Move Toward a Unified
Union?]->https://www.contretemps.eu/syndicats-cgt-solidaires-fsu-unification/

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Syndicalisme-Unifier-pour-mieux-lutter
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