WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE BELGIUM BRUSSELS - (en) France, UCL AL #365 - Trade Unionism - Forestry and the Timber Industry in Nouvelle-Aquitaine: Trade Unions Make a Stand (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 The environmental challenges (climate, water, biodiversity, etc.) linked

to forests place their exploitation at the heart of the issues between
"making ends meet" and "the end of the world." Yet, trade unionism
generally struggles to take root in this sector and to mobilize. Will
these large, surreal capitalist projects help to change the situation
despite themselves? ---- The CGT (General Confederation of Labour) found
itself fully engaged in two mobilizations in Limousin against a project
to expand a mega-sawmill and build a large pellet factory. In terms of
employment, the timber industry is modest and rather fragmented into
small businesses: forestry work, sawmills, construction, furniture,
paper and cardboard, biomass. And trade unionism has very little
presence, despite a stronghold in the paper and cardboard sector and a
relative strength in large construction companies. However, the CGT
plays a recognized role in establishing a large and very active network
of associations. In Creuse, the prefecture responded favorably to its
request to create a forestry and forestry sector observatory. Following
the demonstrations in Guéret and Pau, which the newspaper reported
on[1], the CGT regional committee of Nouvelle-Aquitaine organized a day
of reflection last October. This brought together some thirty union
leaders with the aim of preparing a policy document to be submitted to
delegates at the next regional conference in the spring of 2026.

Under the pretext that wood is a "clean energy source because it is
renewable," four new projects are particularly worrying. Two of them are
in familiar niches: a mega-factory for wood panels and a new giant
pellet production facility. The other two are frankly surreal. On the
one hand, there is a factory to produce "bio-kerosene" for airplanes,
thus targeting a market opened up by the obligation imposed on airlines
to reduce their CO2 emissions. On the other hand, there's a "biochar"
production plant for agricultural fertilizer, using wood pyrolysis to
produce a product that would consume staggering amounts of electricity...

To these projects, which promise a few hundred jobs despite several
billion euros of investment, must be added the development of
biomass-fired heating networks in several major cities. It is by taking
all these projects into account that the Regional Council (a
Socialist/Communist majority) voted for a 25% increase in forest
harvesting. This comes even as the industry itself is raising concerns
about resource availability: "The forest will not be able to meet such
an overwhelming new demand. The resources available by 2036 will barely
be enough to meet the demand of existing companies, with no safety
margin in the event of an extreme situation," denounces the Regional
Federation of Wood Industries of Nouvelle-Aquitaine (Fibna). It remains
to raise awareness more broadly among union leaders and, perhaps even
more difficult, to mobilize employees, particularly those working in the
forestry sector.

Jean-Yves (UCL Limousin)

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[1]"Guéret: The Rise of the Forestry Struggle!", Alternative libertaire
no. 354, November 2024,
https://unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Gueret-La-montee-en-puissance-de-la-lutte-forestiere.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Foret-et-filiere-bois-en-Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Le-syndicalisme-envoie-du-bois
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