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November
2022

France: Trade Unions, Social Movements and the Yellow Vests

With the neoliberal reforms that Macron has rapidly implemented, social dialogue between social movements, unions and the government has become more difficult and fragmented. The French trade union movement is split along political lines into several umbrella organizations, and the level of organization has stagnated. The yellow vests have not been able to decisively change Macron's course. But they have rearticulated positions critical of capitalism and class struggle, also taking migrant struggles into the equation.

France: Trade unions, social movements and the yellow vests

The French Union Movement

The more social-democratic and consensus-oriented federations French Democratic Trade Union Confederation CFDT and the General Confederation of Labor Power CGT-FO, accept deregulation if internal structures are reinforced. The CGT, formerly closely linked to the Communist Party, relies on mobilization in the streets. It has a class-struggle orientation and wants to work from the workplaces into society. The CFDT, which tends to organize employees, has replaced the CGT as the strongest union in workplace council elections since 2017. This is predominantly due to structural change (from production in large factories to service industries). The level of unionization has stagnated at just 11%.

 

Elected president in 2017 and 2022, Emmanuel Macron and his LREM (The Republic on the Move!) party reject the previously usual social dialogue and state-mediated concertation between business associations and unions.

 

Macron has all reform projects passed in the shortest possible time to quickly create facts.

 

[Translate to en:] Wochenlang kam es zu Streiks bei der SNCF
In 2018, all sectors of society, but especially unions and students, protested Macron's reforms, such as billions in tax cuts for large French companies, over 100,000 job cuts in the public sector, the transfer of the state railroad SNCF to a private company, the tightening of asylum laws, and a reorganization of university admissions.

For weeks there were strikes at the SNCF, dozens of universities were occupied. On May 5 of 2018, more than 130,000 people demonstrated in Paris. However, the neoliberal reforms could not be stopped.

 

In November 2018, the Yellow Vests movement emerged unexpectedly. The trigger may have been the rejection of a tax that would have increased the price of diesel, but the demands of the yellow vests quickly went far beyond that. Unorganized right-wing actors had helped instigate the actions on social media, but concerns about the dismantling of state infrastructure, poverty pensions, and unfair taxation of large fortunes dominated among the yellow vests.

What could be achieved?


The yellow vests could not decisively change Macron's course. But they have rearticulated positions critical of capitalism and rooted in the class struggle, also integrating migrant struggles in the whole.

 

Police violence is now also addressed socially, linked to a structural analysis of the hierarchical, male-dominated and racist basic consensus within the police.

 

Large protests for the strengthening of the public health system in France
The harsh lockdown during the Covid 19 pandemic prevented protests for months, but afterwards the yellow vests were present again. Large protests for a strengthening of the public health system followed.
progressive social organizations and the CGT drafted a call for a social-ecological awakening
In May 2020, all progressive social organizations and the CGT issued a call for a social-ecological awakening. The pressure of the movements also led to the convergence of the left parties among themselves.

Left-wing alliance lists achieved major successes in the local elections of March and June of 2021. In April 2022, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, as the candidate of the Socialist party Rebellious France (LFI), missed the ballot for the presidency by a narrow margin with 21.95% of the votes.

 

 

Using and Sharing!

Story-telling: Dario Azzellini , Illustration: Carina Crenshaw

This is a graphic storytelling inspired by the article "No End to the Resistance. Social Movements and Emmanuel Macron"  by Sebastian Chwala, which was published in the anthology "If Not Us, Who? Global workers against authoritarianism, fascism, and dictatorships" (external link, opens in a new window) by Dario Azzellini.

This visual narrative is published under the terms of the Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0! (external link, opens in a new window) Share, use or adapt this graphic narrative for your educational work. Don't forget to republish it under the same terms, giving credit to L!NX and the authors!

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