A-Infos (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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