A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #366 - Trade Unionism - The 1995 Strikes: What Remains Thirty Years Later? (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

In 1995, as the CFDT (French Democratic Confederation of Labour) 
completed its "reorientation" towards collusion with management, union 
members built the strike from the ground up in general assemblies. Our 
UCL (Union of Liberal Workers) comrades at the time, then members of the 
Alternative Libertaire (Libertarian Alternative) organization, were 
active in the CFDT's "left wing" or had already been expelled from the 
CFDT and were leading the Sud PTT (Sud Post Office) experiment. This 
experience sheds light on certain debates that are resurfacing within 
the left and far left.

How did the 1995 strike begin in your workplaces? Christian (former CFDT 
railway worker at the ticket window in the Gare de Lyon): At the SNCF 
(French National Railway Company), there was a certain atmosphere, due 
to recent sectoral movements. So, all the railway workers' federations 
called for a strike "starting November 24th," and the movement was 
launched in General Assemblies. On Saturday the 25th, it's important to 
mention, there was a demonstration for women's rights, focused primarily 
on abortion at the time, which was very large and unified. There was a 
general movement to reclaim the premises, so there were practically no 
trains running.

Jean-Michel (former CFDT railway worker, driver in 
Sotteville-lès-Rouen): We had already had several days of action. On the 
24th, we went on strike after a General Assembly, on a Friday, followed 
by two days of anxiety because we didn't know if we would be left alone. 
So we printed a leaflet calling for a general strike, which was 
distributed in 50,000 copies. We needed to meet people; A commission was 
created to identify the businesses in the area and assess whether they 
anticipated a positive reception. Based on this assessment, teams of 2 
to 40 people were sent to the sorting centers.

Pascal (former SUD postal worker at the Rouen sorting center): At La 
Poste, it was still the heyday of mail delivery; the sorting centers 
represented large concentrations of employees. On Monday, a first 
delegation arrived to discuss the strike launched on Friday. We went 
down to the largest room, about a hundred of us, for a general assembly. 
After discussions and hesitations, we decided to leave at midnight. 
Everyone left, even people who weren't at all interested in protesting. 
We then asked ourselves the same question as the railway workers in the 
distribution sector. We took advantage of the union offices to send 
faxes to all the sorting centers.

Railway workers' general assembly at the Gare de Lyon.

Source: Christian Mahieux
And since then, how can we draw parallels with the current situation to 
understand the weakness of more recent movements? Jacques (former CFDT 
railway worker, freight administrator): The restructurings, at both SNCF 
and La Poste, were significant; there aren't as many large centers 
anymore. At the time, it must be said, there were many more far-left 
activists at SNCF, with regular political newsletters.

Jean Michel: The subjective factor also plays a role; there's a feeling 
of having suffered too many defeats or partial victories. I also think 
we had a slightly stronger sense of public service. We're seeing the 
same mistakes as in 1995: days of action that were too ineffective and 
purely defensive battles, but with a very different social and political 
situation.

Pascal: Since 1995, there was a small victory regarding the First 
Employment Contract (CPE), and then came the 2010 strikes; From this 
point on, we can truly speak of strikes by proxy. In 1995, this was a 
topic of discussion in the private sector, but in the public sector, 
railway workers were followed. When it's not the railway workers who 
strike, it might be the refinery workers, as in 2010, but overall, most 
sectors no longer stray from the framework of days of action.

Faced with this, criticism often arises regarding calls for 24-hour 
strikes, decided collectively from above, unlike in 1995. Do you think 
this criticism of union leadership resonates with your own experience? 
Christian: We also criticized the days of action. That said, the 
succession of these 24-hour strikes and the movements in certain 
professional sectors contribute to creating a certain social climate. 
From petitions to one-hour work stoppages, 24-hour strikes, and even 
rolling strikes, everything is possible and everything is valid. The key 
question is the objective and the available resources at any given time. 
Sometimes, we aren't even able to call a rolling strike, even a local 
one. In the past, even in local conflicts, we managed to regularly hold 
rolling strikes in some departments. At other times, we would just hold 
an hour-long meeting every Friday before moving on to something else. 
When it comes to methods of action, the issue isn't about dogma, but 
about thinking in terms of the balance of power. In any case, it's a 
false problem to get fixated on this issue. In fact, at the time, we 
were members of the CFDT, which supported Juppé, and yet we co-organized 
the rolling strike.

In November 1995, Prime Minister Alain Juppé announced an austerity 
plan: extending the retirement contribution period for public sector 
employees, freezing and taxing family allowances, a law setting annual 
budget targets for social security, increasing hospital fees, and 
cutting reimbursements for certain medications.

Source: Christian Mahieux
What tools and practices did the strikes create, and how can we approach 
them 30 years later?

Pascal: One of the results of the 1995 strikes was, of course, 
Solidaires. The project was fundamentally about a militant unionism that 
didn't choose to join, and therefore choose, a pre-existing 
organization. It was therefore necessary to lay the foundations for a 
new form of unionism. Currently, this project needs to be re-examined; 
we're increasingly sensing a kind of inward-looking culture.

Christian: We do indeed need to take stock of Solidaires, not in terms 
of "positive/negative," but rather "where are we now? What are we 
doing?" What we saw in 1995 was also the bridge between trade unionism 
and social movements. I was talking about November 25th, but it was also 
a time when groups like Agir contre le chômage (Act Against 
Unemployment) and Droit au logement (Right to Housing) helped to 
energize the strike. Solidaires subsequently addressed this issue not 
only of work, but also of integrating social movements. How do we make 
all these things part of the trade unionism we practice? In the absence 
of enthusiasm surrounding the debates on unifying militant trade 
unionism, this is, in my opinion, one avenue for providing a new 
perspective for activist teams. Similar to what we know internationally 
as the Central Union and People's Organization (CUPP) in Brazil, which 
is unique in that it includes both union movements and popular movements 
within its structure.

Interview by Judi (UCL Labor Commission)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Greves-de-95-Que-reste-t-il-trente-ans-apres
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