The 41-year-old wants to “push back capitalism”.
(Photo: CGT)
Paris The French left-wing trade union CGT (Confédération Générale du Travail) caused a surprise on Friday: With Sophie Binet, a woman was elected head of the union for the first time in 128 years. For the CGT, the election is a modernization. Former Secretary General Philippe Martinez is leaving. The combative 61-year-old with the distinctive mustache is followed by 41-year-old Binet.
She was elected at the trade union congress with a large majority, which nobody expected. Binet has been Secretary General of the Managers, Engineers and Technicians Department at CGT since 2018. Two other candidates were considered favorites for the post.
The preferred candidate of the previous union boss Martinez, Marie Buisson, stands for reforms. Her opponent Céline Verzeletti, on the other hand, takes a hard line. Binet was the compromise solution.
The CGT should work more like a collective in the future. “All together,” Binet’s supporters cheered at the election. The new boss declared at the congress: “I am sure that we can master all challenges with a united CGT.” For her, this also includes “pushing back capitalism”.
French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne welcomed the election. Binet’s decision is “good news for all women”. Binet is a women’s rights activist. She was responsible for equality between women and men at the CGT headquarters in Montreuil near Paris. For her, the struggle for equality is at least as important as the “class struggle,” she said. She is also committed to environmental issues.
Unions fight together against pension reform
The philosopher knows that a complicated task awaits her. However, she can draw on experience from her time as a member of the executive board of the largest French student union, Unef.
In 2006, the union successfully fought the so-called Contrat première embauche (contract on first job). The law weakened the rights of young workers. After mass protests, the government around then-President Jacques Chirac withdrew the law. The resistance at that time is considered a great role model for the fight against the pension reform of the governing President Emmanuel Macron.
Binet has to prove herself in the strikes against the reform immediately after her election. So far, the unions have opposed the pension law together, which is rather rare in France. Binet decided to continue the line.
The CGT will sit down with the other unions next Wednesday to negotiate with Prime Minister Borne. Binet explained: “We are calling for the withdrawal of the pension reform across the unions.” They will not back down.
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She is considered adept at negotiations, decisive but not radical. Karel Yon, a sociologist specializing in trade unions and social movements, explains that the department previously headed by Binet has been “rather open to reform” within the CGT.
>> Read here: President Macron defends controversial pension reform
Political scientist and trade union specialist Pierre Rouxel also sees Binet as a “choice of compromise” and “opening”. You try to find an agreement within the divided union.
Binet’s predecessor, Martinez, ran the union for eight years. The record of his tenure was criticized at the union’s congress. Martinez was seen as a lone leader, and under him many members of the CGT missed out on internal democracy.
Membership of the CGT decreases
During his time as general secretary, what was once France’s strongest union had also slipped to second place in workplaces in 2018, being overtaken by the more moderate CFDT (Confédération française démocratique du travail). Membership declined under Martinez from 676,000 members to 640,000 in 2022. In 1946, at its peak, the CGT still had 4.5 million members.
The CFDT, with 800,000 members, has been led by 54-year-old Laurent Berger since 2012. The competing trade unions are still pulling together on the pension reform. But Berger is always present in the media and was at the forefront of the protests against the reform.
Binet therefore has to fight for the position of her union in the media. She is still hardly known to the public. It won’t be easy for them against the overwhelming Berger. The left and socialists in France are already treating him as a possible presidential candidate for 2027.
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