Car workers bitter struggle the towns and country, is the only way to open the road to the overthrow of the for jobs at centre
Bourguiba regime that has been in power since Tunisia became independent.
of political scene
Finally, the international and parties must uncondi-
Trades unions
Since the election of Francois Mitterrand at the head of a Socialist Party/
Communist Party government on May 10, 1981, the most significant in-
In France in particular, the reaction of dustrial struggles in France have been in the car plants of the Seine valley.
the workers movement parties and union
The car industry is one of the biggest in France.
organisations has been lamentable.
Poissy, site of the latest and most determined struggle, has more than
Mitterrand government sent a message of
16.000 workers. It is owned by the PSA group, comprising Peugeot, sympathy to Habib Bourguiba, and has
Talbot and Citroen, which is the largest car firm in the country, and its any solidarity demonstrations.
Even Giscard d'Estaing did not dare to do
The previous carworkers struggles, that in January 1978, or at the time of of waves since November 1981, were stimulated by a new feeling of conthe Gafsa riots in 1980.
fidence, particularly among the immigrant workers, as a result of the left
The French Socialist Party does not look kindly on the destabilisation of revictory in the elections. These struggles took up questions of pay, workhours and the right to organise in the workers unions rather than the comgimes that are pillars of its neocolonial pany unions belonging to the CSL (Confederation des Syndicats Libres policy, and has thus refrained from any
- Confederation of Free Trade Unions).
Although the current general trend in France is towards a drop in tradebetween support for its sister union membership, the two major trade-union federations, the Socialist party in Tunisia and its desire to demon-
Party-associated CFDT and the CP-led CGT won significant numbers of strate its 'responsibility' in government - new members from these struggles, particularly where they gave a lead to has not taken any initiative.
The Ligue Communiste Revolution-
The latest struggle at Talbot Poissy focused on the protection of jobs.
naire, (LCR - Revolutionary Communist
League) French section of the
Slowly. However, over the next period it is expected to rise dramatically.
International, has thus been the only or-
The employers' journal les Echos recently estimated that between midganisation in
France to join with hun-
1983 and mid-1984 some 200,000 jobs would be lost, including several dreds of Tunisians in the streets in dethousand in the car industry both at Citroen and Peugeot, and in the
The definitive dropping
These job losses are justified on the grounds of 'overstaffing.
Bourguiba-Mzali government's economic
French media has coined the term 'degraissage', 'getting rid of the fat' as a
Support for the struggles to maintain buying power and against austerity
Immediate freedom for all those still imprisoned;
Unconditional introduction of dedemocratic freedoms;
Down with the plans dictated by
- the IMF.
10 largest privately-owned company. the militancy of the workers. Under the Mitterrand government rationalised car firm Renault. euphemism for redundancies.
The struggle at Talbot Poissy started in July 1983 when the company announced that 10,000 jobs had to go.
The struggle came to an end in January 1984 after a militant strike that re-
The Talbot plant at which have taken place in a series unemployment has risen relatively vealed the bitter division between the CGT and the CFDT in the plant - a major cause of the failure of the strike; the determination of the immigrant workers - who comprise 53 per cent of the workers in the plant - to fight to protect their jobs; and the class collaborationist
International Viewpoint 30 January 1984
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FRANCE -
ernment and the PSA management. Monday January 2.
attitude of the SP-CP government which intervened in the struggle in the interests of the management.
The actions of the two different unions in the strike revealed that the decision by the CFDT to take a verbally more critical stance of the government, combined with the activity of a local union led by the CFDT left opposition, enabled it to make gains over the CGT who stuck to the line of their last congress held in July 1982. There they decided to work for the rationalisation and profitability of French industry, avoiding 'waste' and calling on the workers to buy
In this particular struggle this led to the CGT leaders emphasising the need to 'preserve the trademark Talbot', to prevent foreign industry 'overrunning the country. Therefore they were prepared to lose jobs if that meant 'saving
The CFDT on the other hand had realised after the elections for the social security management boards in November that those unions closely linked with the government (CGT, CFDT) had done worse than the others and had thus decided to make a verbal left turn.
When management proposals were revealed in July 1983 the response of the unions was unified. A massive one day strike took place on July 21.
However, when in October the government in consultation with the Talbot accepted 4,510 early retirements, and demanded a 'social compensation' of further redundancies, the CGT considered this a victory.
A month later, on November 21, the Peugeot group management asked for government approval for 2,905 redun-
'social compensation' in this proposal covered priority re-employment for redundant Talbot workers in the region and free retraining.
At the beginning of December it was heard that these proposals had been accepted by the government. There was an immediate reaction by the workers. December 7 the CFDT in the plant denounced the proposed redundancies and called for industrial action. called for a one-day strike the following
The strike started when the night shift came in on December 7.
Over the next week the strike continued, the factory remained paralysed, and the CFDT and CGT declared their opposition to any redundancies. SP-CP government met among themselves and with the PSA management, while refusing to make any official statements.
Thursday December 15 Peugeot decided that the 'presence of the workforce is pointless' and that 'the factory will be closed from Monday', in effect a lock-out. Despite this threat the CGT and CFDT decided to continue with an occupation of the factory. ing day the local CGT official stated, 'We are ready to restart work at any time from the start of negotiations on the basis of no redundancies.'
On Saturday December 17 an agreement was announced between the govInternational Viewpoint 30 January 1984 would be 1,905 redundancies. and added to the 'social compensation', at a later point would be a payment of 20,000 francs for immigrant workers to return to their country of origin.
Pierre Mauroy, the SP prime minister, who had taken personal charge of the negotiations, thus making the government directly responsible, considered this 'a happy and satisfactory outcome'. The secretary of the CGT federation Andre Sainjon, called it 'a not negligible gain'.
The reaction of the workers was expressed through the statement of the CFDT at Talbot which declared, "The struggle must continue so that all redundancies are rejected. The strike in the factory must be stepped up from Monday! The workers at the plant on Sunday did indeed reject the agreement. That evening the CGT called for a strike on Monday to force the management to discuss the measures in the agreement. On Monday December 19, the CFDT called for the formation of strike committees while Sainjon stated that the [factory] occupation is not necessary at the
From this point the simmering divisions between the CFDT and the CGT in the plant became open warfare. The CGT
"irresponsible' the CFDT leaders locally who were for continuing the struggle, and aided the bourgeois media in portraying the strikers as a handful of 'extremists', stirred up by 'outside agitators' - always a favourite slander against militant workers.
The response of the CGT leaders locally to the government agreement, that there would not be redundancies, not be workers thrown onto the street', that thanks to the agreements on retraining and rehiring there would be only 'departures from the factory' did not stand up well, against those of the CFDT and workers in favour of continuing the strike that In seven days on strike we cut out weeks we would have a chance of getting rid of the other 2,000 Noual, local CFDT leader).
This reaction caused confusion and dissension among the CGT members. However, at the same time the CGT had the credibility of being far and away the majority union in the plant - the last elections held gave it 45 per cent as opposed to 8 per cent for the CFDT -and as the union that led the strike at the sister plant of Citroen Aulnay.
The occupation of the plant continued while the individual redundancy notices were sent out on December 20 and discussions continued among the workers on how to continue the struggle. During this period it became clear that a dissident current existed within the CGT - particularly among the immigrant workers.
On December 30 the factory occupation was declared illegal and the following day the CRS riot police were sent management announced that work would
The management then sent individual letters to the workers that had not been made redundant calling them back to
The strict control over the entry of workers to the plant on the morning of January 2, with the police, the CSL the mangement force, was not able to ensure a peaceful return to work and an attempt by a large striking workers without their individual passes finally forced the factory to be closed down once again until the next day.
Over the following days the workers the factory strikers grew in number over the first few days, gathering in the B3 shop where the strike was based to discuss and or-
From this base the workers went out to the other parts of the factory, discussing and convincing workers to join the strike for 'zero redundancies'. During these days there were several violent conflicts between the strikers and the CSL, including vicious racists attacks on the immigrant workers.
Throughout the struggle the CFDT took initiatives in organisation, the 'strikers card' that workers filled in to declare that they were strikers, daily mass meetings, rotas for the occupation and picket lines, post cards of solidarity to be sent by workers and unionists from all over France to show their support. On January 3 the CFDT and CGT dissidents called for a strike committee. In one morning 400 workers signed up as candidates for this
Throughout the strike the Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire (LCR - French section of the Fourth International) played an active role in building support for the Talbot workers struggle. Through the leading role of comrades in the local CFDT they argued to win support for the line of 'zero redundancies' and 'a struggle to the end'. The weekly newspaper Rouge gave consistent coverage including eyewitness reports from inside the plant, articles discussing what was at stake for French workers, the bosses, the government and the unions in the struggle, and the fight for workers solidarity.
despite the militancy workers in Talbot, despite the solidarity and support they received from many unions and workers elsewhere, the divisions between the two trade unions and the isolation of a struggle that was a test for the whole of the working class in France meant that the strike came to an end although the CFDT workers continued to state that the struggle will con-
Other bastions of the industrial working class in France will face the same test in the months to come, major job loss is projected in engineering, coal mines, the shipyards and steel. The proposal to cut 3,000 jobs at Talbot provoked a militant strike and forced a cut of one third in the proposed redundancies. will the proposed 200,000 other jobs to be lost provoke?
attracted to the Communist Unity Con- difference.
gress. The party has also to rebuild its strength among layers of professionals in order to be able to present a more attractive broad electoral image.
Within the framework of these common concerns, the main debates between the two tendencies in the congress