Où va le syndicalisme français ?

Where is French Trade Unionism Heading?
Gérard Donnadieu gives us an analysis here of the origins and development of French trade unionism, the crisis it is currently going through and possible changes it may undergo.
Born out of the context of class struggle and becoming progressively institutionalised, trade unionism has been going through a major crisis for twenty years revealed by:
– a drop in the level of trade unionism;
– collapse of trade union representation observed during elections to the committees of companies and industrial tribunals;
– loss of control by trade unions of the social order, which is shown by a drop in conflicts and a rise in local, decentralized negotiations escaping the control of large groups of affiliated trade unions.
Starting with a typology showing four types of trade unionism to which he associates four different functions, the writer shows that the French trade union landscape today is very fragmented and confused: still dominated here – mainly in the public service – by a “trade unionism of the rostrum” which, relying on all the demands made, is condemned to fragmentation, and more inclined at the moment to adopt a strategy of co-operation (particularly in the CFDT) with moderate success, in spite of everything.
Finally, the writer outlines five possible scenarios of change in the long term: that of decline with all the risks of ungovernability which it carries in the case of major social crisis; that of the trade union model fragmented into multiple organizations according to each sectional group; the third scenario (“uncoupling and institutionalisation”) would be marked by the transformation of trade unions into “social agencies”; the fourth describes what could be “company trade unionism” of the Japanese or Greman type; the final scenario, relying on new forms of organisation and employment, outlines what could be the role of trade unions in a post-salary society.