An analysis of the movement that we have lived together for another hot, very interesting, and Karel Béroud Sophie Yon sociologists, also available on the website below. To begin to learn from this conflict. Posted on
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Fall 2010: Anatomy of a great social movement
Political scientists, and Karel Beroud Sophie Yon analyze hot in this interview, the great social movement of the fall of 2010. They describe the main features of these protests, the way they relate to a process of transformation of the field to organize and link the policy questions put to the agenda by these weeks of struggles.
* ContreTemps - The movement against pension reform launched last spring is part of a line of great social conflict ... *
The power of conflict, its political content and even the drama of the massive opposition street in power help take this forward as a moment of acute class struggle in France.
He enrolled first, of course, in direct descent movements of 1995 and 2003, which saw hundreds of thousands of workers into the streets and some areas to strike on the same theme : opposition to pension reform, the special schemes in 1995, the General Plan in 2003. The pension issue is still producing great social conflicts. This is indeed an element that played a central role both in stabilizing the condition of wage that the anchor / via / their participation in the management of the institutions of wage labor, the power of unions.
For its duration, the magnitude of events, by the almost total blocking of certain sectors, this movement also features comparable to other large sequences of social conflict. It falls in line with the social conflicts of the fall of 1995, but the winter of 1986 because of its dynamic and progressive enlargement of the support he received in the population. The mobilization of employees has grown to a part of youth, with the students and to a much lesser extent students. In 1986 and 1995, the momentum was reversed, however: the mobilization of educated youth had prefigured those of employees. Spring 2006 also is the fear of a massive influx of workers in a dispute centered on the educational world who had led the President of the Republic to give in on the CPE. The role played by the united front of trade unions of course remember this mobilization against the CPE in 2006, but also that of 2009 against the crisis.
Finally, there is a direct link with the previous sequence Spring 2009, the movement has certainly built on the challenge of pension reform, but it was irrigated at the same time by a much broader rejection of the policy Sarko. From this point of view, the political content of the current mobilization is much more explicit, tangible example in 2003, even though Jacques Chirac had been elected, by default, against Jean-Marie Le Pen. The dimension of political crisis is undeniably stronger, which explains the items marked with May-June 1968. It results from a delegitimization significant political power, which was particularly highlighted by two events: the case
Woerth-Bettencourt, and construction of a "Roma problem" with the government, this second event which was widely interpreted as an outrageous diversion intended to distract the first.
deeper level, it should be noted that this movement is part of the sequence after the spring 2009, marked by large protests against the crisis. The combination of these elements creates a deep sense of injustice. The image of a governing power for the business community, which always invites the same has to make sacrifices imposed. Summarized the contradictions in the personality of Sarkozy, who is wanted at the same time herald the purchasing power and President "bling-bling" - the "Chairman of the rich," as they say Pinçon - erupted on the occasion of this conflict.
* CTPS - This mobilization seems, indeed, stand out sharply previous mobilizations. First, perhaps, the sustainability of the Inter. How do you analyze the tactics of association: the current situation it is the logical consequence given the attitude of power, or is it rather the continuation of a process opened whose evolution has largely overtaken the union leadership? To what extent, especially in the case of the CGT, it is important to bear in mind the contradictions within the organization to understand the attitude of the leadership in the movement? What are the challenges that face today is that Inter structure and what role can it play again? *
It has emerged that at the Inter-movement against the First Job Contract, but it is especially the protests against the crisis which gave it its legitimacy. This is a novelty in the trade union landscape French, marked by organizational rivalries, to see become permanent structure that recognizes the pluralism of the union movement - including up to its components usually kept separate - while trying to build consistency.
One can even note that the movement was not scored until the passage of the law in all cases by a disconnect between the union teams at the bottom and directions federal or confederal. This was the case in 2009, which were particularly intense debate across the CGT and Solidarity about a framework Inter accused of having exhausted the motion for lack of alternative strategy to action days
"leapfrog." This year, the gradual movement and the success he has continued to meet in terms of participation, have not placed teams in the position of militant confrontation with their own organization. We are very far from a configuration like that of 1986 when the coordinations
appeared as an indispensable tool for activists to control their struggles.
The fact that the framework of the Inter is little dispute that does not say he does not criticized. The action days have seemed too far apart at first, the call for renewed strike in all sectors has never been formulated and is to claim the opening of negotiations, a further reform, has prevented the Agreement on the slogan of the clear withdrawal of the bill.
But the momentum created by the Inter and the fact that nothing has replaced it has reinforced the central role of unions. It could have been a citizen movement from committees on TCE unit as such. However, the unit committees for retirement at age 60, who initially helped plow the field of ideology, were quickly eclipsed by the union mobilization and failed to develop in connection therewith. The acceptance of pluralism options unions, and the choice made by Solidarity on one side and FOR, CGC and UNSA the other, to assume their public disagreements on various occasions, enabled by the Inter- present itself as a democratic framework. It is not a staff union right thing in excluding dissenting opinions, but a coordinating framework which internal diversity resonates with the plurality of options to which employees are confronted
locally. In this way, the Inter herself as a flexible framework that did not preclude other forms of action, more radical, since they were decided locally. But the logic of the frame prevented him from being the resonance of these strategies. We saw in the attitude of the Inter-face with the dynamics of radicalization - anchor the strike in some areas, and blocking actions
clashes margins events schoolgirls. If the press release dated October 21 refers to the responsibility of the union movement, supported by public opinion and "/ respect for people and property /" no explicit support is given to the ongoing strike, as if these latter had no place in this framework.
The line is so thin and now we are entering a phase that is perceived as the decline of the movement, it is clear that we could soon know the dynamics of disagreements regarding the disposition of the action. The link between employees and union teams mobilized locally with spokesperson National Union is strictly representative.
control over national policy is returned to democratic mechanisms internal to each organization. CGT officials have invested much time in the manufacture of "shared choices" in the confederation, through meetings such federations, but also territorial unions throughout the movement.
What is clear is that the forms taken by the recent mobilizations presented the unions at the center of the game, and that the framework of the Inter contributed significantly to this. Two major facts explain the phenomenon of the Inter: reform of trade union representation unfolding since 2008 and the strategic reorientation of the CGT, which began in the 1990s.
By making union representation a right ascending and scalable, which is gained from the results obtained in the elections business, the 2008 reform has made obsolete the border was between the five confederations benefiting from a representative "irrefutable" - CGT, CFDT, FOR, CFTC, CGC -
to other organizations - UNSA, Partners, FSU. We'll know in 2013 what organizations are nationally representative cross.
Meanwhile, there is no issue of more or less open or close the game This flattening of the conditions of competition association is already evident in access to industrial tribunals Partners subsidies or certain instances of " social dialogue "as the guidance of economic, social and environmental national and regional. The dead seizes the living in 2009 and is under rationalities earlier it became possible to integrate the trade union organizations
"non-representative "In Inter. Recent - FSU, Solidarity, the UNSA - were themselves anxious not to cut the unitary framework. In 2010, we are witnessing a reconfiguration: the field can not be shared between more representative organizations and non-representative, but between dominant and dominated the game in union. The change of approach is integrated and representativeness of trade unions dominated agree more freedom,
it can become a distinctive. You see it especially with FP, whose position is destabilized by the reform - which ends with the image of the 'three great confederations "- But who has the means to hold an independent position. Solidarity has been well allow himself more freedom in deciding to sign an ad hoc declarations of the Inter.
But for the Inter exists, it was also the dominant trade union organizations in the field agree. The CFDT, after the traumatic episode of 2003, had every interest in preventing the rider alone. But it is undeniably the CGT that is more proactive with this unified framework. She entered into effect in the strategic perspective of what its leaders call "trade unionism together "since now the late 1990s.
is the choice of a unitary framework inclusive, but the preferred axis based on the relationship with its main rival, the CFDT.
This strategy seems to bear fruit here, with an intrinsic fragility of course linked to the positioning of the CFDT. Somewhere, the bet made by the leadership of the CGT seems won the posture of open, calling for negotiation, to blame for the radicalization of the movement in government and
"win public opinion public "that allow employees 'actors' determine their own ways to enter the movement
and their modes of action, that of building on an inter including organizations like the CFDT, CFTC and CFE-CGC. This bet also seems well under way towards the process of unionization: the CGT
teams are pursuing, in different sectors of the private sector, a big job of distributing pamphlets and making contacts with workers in firms without union presence. Résultatsconcrets the awareness of this work will see many around participation in events with a permanent renewal of the procession (from the perspective of businesses, but also single demonstrators younger, the number of women who follow the banners
CGT). Similarly, the Solidarity marches, including Paris, are impressive for what they say about this ability to attract supporters, employees not necessarily organized. Something is trying to play without one can be certain that this leads to much really on the union and the creation of new bases union sustainable.
If the strength of the movement strengthens the leadership of the CGT in its choices - and reinforces it with probably a large part of its members - nor does it diminish the ambiguity of the latter. The idea that c'estaux employees to decide for themselves, by democratic practices - size is actually very important - also masks a form of withdrawal union: we do not want this to be the teams most militant, those ready to enter into renewed strike, to block the production apparatus that carry the movement to further expand it, to touch other employees. The view
means, but it does not invalidate the question of building a power real. One can legitimately wonder what would have been the movement without blocking refineries! The idea of speaking in priority to public opinion in a report most often uncritically to this concept and survey instruments, is a strange
internalization of the structural weakness of French trade unionism. Public opinion is entered as a float and this leads to oust a speech that would build on an analysis in terms of social classes. It is important to discover as an end decisive image of unionism among the population, this good image - the union interlocuteursocial a legitimate, accountable - is posited as a condition of membership pourgagner. But in contrast, this discourse leads to flee
any projection where it would be too political to say 'we' mobilized to represent the wage raised against the policy in favor of the ruling classes.
Given these two points, it does not appear that the union leaders "have been caught short." Inter part they are not imposed by the database, it is they who created it and who impose it as a condition / sine qua non / Success any mobilization. In contrast, the massive participation of employees - that is to say, as the magnitude of the challenge of government and politics
conducted by N. Sarkozy - has served the Inter allowing it to overcome its internal tensions, its structural weakness due to deep differences exist within the arc union, Solidarity of the CFE-CGC. Whether it was possible to do something else with this exceptional potential challenge refers to an important debate, but this debate has not really taken because of the mobilization. CTPS-
* Another highlight is that, unlike large mobilizations of the past two decades, the locomotive's movement does not come this time or education or transport - although strikes were in these two important sectors, but private sector employees with refineries. Why is that? More broadly, how do you analyze, at the sectoral level, the diversity of the dynamics of current mobilization and the relationship between workers struggles and struggles of youth? *
Due to the increased presence on, in the strikes of public employees who have nevertheless been the main drivers of interprofessional struggles since 1995 (SNCF and Education, but The Post, EDF-GDF ...), this movement has rather taken the configuration of mass demonstrations with a strong presence of public employees but also employees of multiple companies private, combined with movements of strikes - some minority - in different sectors: school lunches, road transport, conveyors background, garbage collection, and of course ...
refineries must consider both the conditions that have affected the mobilization of sectors traditionally most mobilized, and those who favored the emergence of new fronts of mobilization. Side barriers the mobilization of railway or teachers, can be easily found: in the failure of their previous mobilizations! Since 2003, these two sectors have been the spearhead of
many struggles that have led to overall failure. This explains both the difficulty of mobilizing largely employees of these sectors and the persistence of a protest led by a minority of radicalized: the low rate of strikers and their persistence over time. More broadly, we must not forget that the economic and symbolic impact of a shutdown of urban and rail transport was significantly diminished with the Act of August 21, 2007
the minimum service. If union activists manage to subvert / via / rotating strikes in particular, new constraints on the requirement of continuity of public service, this device, with the individual obligation to declare themselves on strike 48 hours in advance, n 'in no less anticipated effects in terms of additional obstacles to collective action.
It has been of this view as a surprise to see the refinery employees - and to a lesser extent, road hauliers - take over the railway and drivers bus. If the tip of the mobilization was this year, which is rare in the private sector, however, this is an area that the conditions and remuneration for work closer to public enterprises. In addition, the role played by refineries is certainly to be sought in the specific dynamics of this sector, where's the threat of deindustrialization again, with the relocation of the refinery as close as oil extraction activities. The struggle to maintain the Total refinery at Dunkirk, in the first half of 2010, was a repetition of allowing employees
to experience the effectiveness of some modes of action. It should probably also take into account issues internal to the CGT, the federation of chemical industries is among the critics of the line of "unionism together."
Similarly, we should note the territorial roots mobilizations, as illustrated by the strength and range of motion and to Marseille in the Bouches du Rhone. The fact that there are renewable strikes launched in early October in the Monoprix can not be understood without reference to a much greater participation and Regular private sector workers in Marseille during the mobilizations of 2003
2006 or 2009. Marseille configuration refers to both the employment situation, history and local social activist work done over the years towards the unemployed and precarious.
In the commentary of an article we had published previously on
setback
[1], about the spring 2009 mobilizations against the crisis, a visitor suggested an hypothesis. Mobilisations against the attack would have been a turning point in the forms of mobilization. We pass movements driven by the sectors in struggle, often public sector, forms of mobilization more heterogeneous, more structured on a territorial level, involving more private sector companies ... prohibiting in all cases to believe the dynamics of mobilization as the result of the action of a professional sector is placing the forefront. This consideration is relevant in the context of strategic thinking guided by the goal of "All Together". It refers to a balance that fluctuates between public and private sectors: the power of the public is started, new forces are emerging in private, sometimes from the public, and insecurity is spreading everywhere. It is the renewal of the wage and
managerial policies that erode professional cultures and activists, who were often intertwined ... This reflection invites to rethink the dynamics of mobilization, and in particular to overcome the opposition between supporters of the general strike and Supporters of events on Saturday to reflect on the articulation of these forms of action, trying to return the obstacle
increasing heterogeneity of the workforce into an asset (see writes
to this topic Philippe Corcuff in Mediapart < http://www.mediapart.fr/club/blog/philippe-corcuff/181010/pour-une-guerilla-sociale-durable-et-pacifique >
[2]) . The reality of the labor movement today, however, is marked by the absence of such strategic thinking. If we can rationally consider that only a dynamic generalization of the movement, locking strength of the economy would roll back the government, a majority of unionists start today of the principle, or that such dynamics can not , either because it does
undesirable.
* CTPS-This movement shows again a phenomenon often seen as a paradox: on one side, the mobilization is extremely strong considering participation in the demonstrations and the credits the popularity polls, including in its hardening; other hand, strikes renewable, have not really taken. This type of phenomenon had already been discussed in 1995 with the idea of
`* / strike * proxy */*», this logic is explicit when refinery employees reported in struggle: "* * One blocks for those who can not strike * /
< http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/161010/raffineries-bloque-pour-ceux-qui-ne-peuvent-pas- make-strike >
[3] * ". This time, however, multiple blocking actions (roads, fuel flow, waste ..) implemented by inter-group seems to outline a new model is on strike if it can, it is seen to participate in the demonstrations but the inscription in the mobilization also involves a search for tangible economic effects .. This dynamic is reminiscent of the crucial role of roadblocks in the piqueteros struggle in Argentina in 2002-2003 or even more in the cycle of mobilisations in the first half of the 2000s preceded the accession to power of Evo Morales of the MAS in Bolivia .. In short, the deterioration of the position of number of employees at their place of work would thus be to render extremely difficult to generalize strikes but, cons, it could give way to greater diversity of expression of
conflict which does not exclude the process of radicalization. What do you think such a reading? And if we follow it, to what extent can we consider that this mobilization would mark the entrance, for France in a new model of great social conflict? *
Spring 2003 was marked by attempts made by teachers to bring their fight to the private sector employees. The CPE, in 2006, had scored more clearly will this junction between the world of education in the broadest sense and the "world wage" (of course, education is also a world of work!), Through the organization The general meeting inter-but also through many actions
punch, all at once meant hitting opinion and may impede the normal functioning of the economy. We find these forms today, and what might be interesting is to see that the logic of actions punch, block, initially mainly driven by fringes
most radical, is now widely adopted in organizations
unions themselves. The diffusion of these practices, because it engages various stakeholders, embodies the shift of a collective identity which "strikes by proxy" is another symptom. This phenomenon was particularly visible during the movement, with a multitude of support spontaneous support of the strikers, the proliferation of strike funds and actions of solidarity, residents, citizens, teachers. Some media, like
Mediapart, played an important role in building this solidarity movement
. The procession of events, if
structured by union representatives, has been rather heterogeneous. The alignment of private and public liabilities erased in 1993. The movement against the CPE has now revealed the close interweaving between the world of work and that of the school. Movement has developed a consciousness of its own legitimacy that allowed him not to fall into the trap of stigma thugs. Much
elements contributing to the reconstruction of a common identity.
But we think it would be wrong to overstate the novelty of an engagement model which, in fact, imply that the former are exceeded. It is first very risky to go beyond the formal analogies with Latin America where social structures are very different. For example, the phenomenon of Argentina / piqueteros / her private nature of movement jobs, its territorial inscription refers to a liquidation of state institutions and welfare of wage
incommensurate with that familiar "old Europe".
In addition, the "old" industrial dispute, based on the strike and the company as a battlefield, remains central. The latest developments illustrate the movement: the resumption of work in the refineries was seen as the end of the mobilization. The registry of the strike remains central to anchor the action in the duration of blockages andTHE choice "outside" is often a sign of weakness on the possibilities to influence from within companies.
Rather than mobilization model, it would probably be happier to understand these phenomena with the more flexible notion of "collective action repertoires < http://www.vacarme.org/article1261.html > [4 ]. " There are definitely new forms of mobilization
referring to the transformations of capitalism and the organization of work. In a world of wage increasingly fragmented, where the collective work is now less unified by its spatial concentration as shaped by a set of flows - of workers, products, Communications - leblocage stocks of goods, industrial hubs or routes of trade is a means to the employees and really influence the functioning of the economy. Undeniably, the action repertoire is enriched, because the records of collective action to adjust modes of domination. But behind the image of capitalism in the network, we are seeing in companies in financial concentration phenomena (creation of ever larger groups) and strategic re-centralization of power - that N. Lichtenstein describes through the managerial model of Wal-Mart. If firms are increasingly interdependent, it is unclear whether this
interdependence will result in a dilution of power.
In addition, a significant risk weights, which was particularly visibledans movements academics, the CPE to the LRU: the practice of blocking and escape out of the workplace (or school employee) can lead to forward flight, digging the gap between the sectors most radicalized and the largest number less involved.
Finally, if we must emphasize new developments it should mention other elements, such as the use of suffrage: the mobilisationcollective sometimes strike, have relied on the use of urns
presented as a guarantee of democratic transparency. This demonstrates interesting fluctuations in the labor movement, as to the legitimate views and practices of democracy working. When organizations CGT offer the secret ballot, it is far from an element (the show of hands by those engaged in the fight) that has long been seen as identity: he had also been at principle of separation of FOR
when insurgent strikes of 1947! Long Indeed, the use of secret vote was denounced as a corrupt demobilization, tearing the community mobilized in favor of individual rationality.
But these developments also refers to how democratic practices are invested and implemented by individuals who no longer have the same political socialization. The student assemblies in the CPE were places of intense debate, particularly on the organization votes on the conditions of legitimacy of these blocks over. From another perspective, the organizing
a citizen referendum on the future of the Post or to request a referendum on the EDF are seen as ways to expand beyond the mobilization of employees of these companies, involve the population based on the status of user. Such actions illustrate again the recomposition of a repertoire of action that involves both the traditional trade union registers while drawing inspiration from other movements (think the feminist movement or the rights of immigrants for use of ballot boxes and ballots citizens).
* CTPS - This movement is a mobilization on the pension reform.
But it's probably much more than that: the question of retirement seems to have been taken as a * / * casus belli * / * to reject more widely, power and politics. How do you approach this aspect of systemic movement and what are its implications, the victory can not be political? *
Without necessarily having any hierarchy between them, it seems possible to list a number of points, partially embedded, to consider the political dimension:
1 - The undisputed centrality of trade union organizations in the movement went hand in hand with low visibility of opposition parties. The PS was displayed against the reform conducted by the Fillon government, but shares the liberal economic assumptions. To the left of the left, the various organizations
rather preferred their own appearance in the course of the movement at the expense of a common policy response: it is far different from the loose coordination of which we spoke with Inter (not to idealize as this one!). It is the division that prevails, so that the parties have not been capable of being the catalyst for a fed that actually exceeds the case of pensions, which refers to a sense of immorality and illegitimacy of power, violence and injustice of its policies.
2 - But the unions do not play this role more because they do not wish to endorse most of them.
Already in 2009, Bernard Thibault insisted that the city was not a strategy Guadeloupe and type LKP would be a mistake. In fact, it is clear that the institutionalization of the field labor in France is reflected in how actors perceive their ability and legitimacy of action by accepting a partitioning hard spheres between associative and political union. Register argument that implement the dominant organizations in the field is the union of social dialogue. They do not envisage the construction of a wide forehead, socio-cultural challenge to the widest possible power because they consider that it is not their role.
3 - From this point of view, the issue of pensions from the myth reveals that structures the discourse on social dialogue, social democracy could flourish quietly, with its rules and its own temporality, to away from democracy policy. The idea of subordination granted the players union and political power has shown its practical implications: a government that forgets, when he decreed
the urgency of reform, any prior negotiation procedure. In the end, no union official has also agreed to s'autodésarmer assuming that once the law passed, the challenge was to leave the field of the street. Only uneminorité organizations maintained that speech (UNSA, CFE-CGC), maistout remaining within the framework of the Inter.
4 - If the unions accept today a share of political responsibility, it is often transformed the mode of expertise. He is convinced of the credibility of sespropositions, arguing points on internal reform commedans the case of the CFDT, or by offering, as do the CGT, FSU and Solidarity another reform, in line with economists and organizations such as ATTAC. This is obviously an extremely valuable since it arms trade unionism, allows a certain degree to be heard in the media and creates linkages with other sectors. But for this technical realism does not lose sight of its strategic objectives, it has yet to articulate a thought "hot", to values, the practical affirmation of the vision of the world as a real project would safeguard pensions
division.
5 - This leads to a final point of reflection: the best projects around the world have no meaning unless they are underpinned by popular enthusiasm, if they do not index themselves with images of the company wanted, they are not part of a collective history.
The movement can be an opportunity for union officials to be aware of this responsibility their responsibility and refers to more great moments of the labor movement - when the proposals of trade unions irrigate the policy debate, CGT planning for the 1930 nationalization and social security to the liberation to socialism
self-management in 1970s. While the left is sluggish and divided, it is possible that significant fractions of the labor movement are a catalyst to develop a real agenda of social transformation. A development that does not result from "hearing" of trade unions by political leaders, but a autonomous dynamics for trade unionists to build lasting relationships with each other and everyone, citizens, associations, social movements that helped feed the dispute in recent weeks.
Such a process would require to put in place structures / ad hoc / as naturally as part of the Inter, whose interest is not at issue, is another function. Between holding an Inter by consensus and the war of all against tousque engage organizations facing the conquest of their representation in companies, there is an intermediate space to occupy, that of a cooperative development strategy. About
reccueillir by Cédric Durand
* Interventions < http://www.contretemps.eu/interventions >
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -
* Source URL: *
http://www.contretemps.eu/interventions/automne-2010-anatomie-dun-grand-mouvement-social
* Links: *
[1]
http://www . contretemps.eu /../../../../../../ interventions / face-crisis-that-does-union movement
[2]
http://www.mediapart .fr/club/blog/philippe-corcuff/181010/pour-une-guerilla-sociale-durable-et-pacifique
[3]
http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/161010/raffineries-bloque-pour-ceux-qui-ne-peuvent-pas-faire-greve
[4] http: / / www.vacarme.org/article1261.html
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