France: arm wrestling between Government and unions

In fact, the 55 years this man with a moustache suddenly went on to appear in every newspaper, on every television and radios. Philippe Martinez was, until about 15 months, an illustrious unknown to most French. Since becoming Secretary General of the CGT, the main Union of the country declared war on the Government and is keen to resist the arm wrestle with the Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Who will be the first to give in. ...

Philippe Martinez ensures that "when there is so much dispute, when there are so many people to reject a bill it is necessary to remove it and start from scratch to get to discuss. It's the common sense. The ball is on the side of the Government. If we say they will start from scratch, we stopped the contest, I assure you. "

The power of mobilization is huge. The Union controls the key economy sectors but there is a real paradox in French reality: millions those who answer the call when there are calls for expressions and to strike, but the CGT has 688 1000 only unionized workers. Is it true that you have more "militants" that a political party but represents only 2.6% of asalariados French.

That is, there is no mass syndicalism in France, only 8% of workers are unionized, much less that the Belgians (55%) or Iceland (82%). But this weak representation then translates into huge popular movements, demonstrations and strikes.

But is Philippe Martinez able to lead France in a new way? Jean-Marie Pernot, an expert in Industrial unionism relations of economic and Social Studies, believes that "Martinez and the CGT have managed to make a huge mobilization. Now you need to land, to stop the ship, you need to decide on a course. It's very complicated. And that's where we're going to understand the talent of Martinez.

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