The management of the CGT suffers a major setback during its 53rd Congress

March 28, 2023

The 53rd Congress of the CGT, which opened Monday in a very tense atmosphere, was Tuesday the scene of an unexpected vote of no confidence vis-à-vis the outgoing management, which increases the suspense on the succession of Philip Martinez.

The delegates present at the Grande Halle d’Auvergne, in the agglomeration of Clermont-Ferrand, rejected by 50.32% of the votes cast the activity report of the outgoing management, a major setback for Mr. Martinez and the candidate whom he had chosen to replace him, Marie Buisson.

“This is a first for the CGT in modern times,” said Jean-Marie Pernot, political scientist specializing in the history of trade unions, to AFP.

“It is a disavowal of everything that has been carried out by the outgoing management”, reacted to the press Céline Verzeletti, co-secretary general of the UFSE (Federal Union of State Trade Unions), more and more more openly candidate for the succession of Mr. Martinez.

This ballot is a “vote by mandates”, which means that the vote of each delegate was “well debated” within the unions, “it is not a vote of mood (…) so it is not is not a small signal sent to the outgoing management”, she underlined.

Throughout the afternoon, the speakers had succeeded in the podium to criticize the orientations of the outgoing management, and the lack of internal democracy at the CGT.

They notably denounced Philippe Martinez’s approval of the idea of ”mediation” on the pension file, put forward on Tuesday morning by his CFDT counterpart Laurent Berger.

“Comrade Philippe Martinez, who gave you a mandate to talk about mediation while the workers are in the street?” Asked Murielle Morand, from the federation of chemistry.

Congress members castigated a lack of consultation concerning the work of rapprochement between the CGT and the FSU and Solidaires unions, or during the creation in 2020 of the “Never again that” collective, bringing together unions, NGOs and associations to tackle the issues head-on. ecological and social.

Some have risen against platforms signed with reformist unions, or with the Medef.

– towards a “more offensive” CGT?-

Congress opened Monday in a stormy atmosphere, with several representatives of the trade federation forcing their way into the Congress hall to protest against the fact that they could not sit there.

The management had suffered several hostile votes, including one modifying the regulations of the Congress, which put back in the saddle the candidacy of the restless secretary general of the Departmental Union of Bouches-du-Rhône, Olivier Mateu, whose radical line should not however not allow him to prevail.

Other conflicts have erupted, concerning the non-participation in the Congress of the CGT Police, or the ousting of a journalist member of the SNJ-CGT, accused of having transmitted to a colleague the embargoed speech of Marie Buisson.

“This is the first time that I have experienced a tense congress like this”, testified the secretary general of the Federation Mines Energie, Sébastien Menesplier.

Support for Céline Verzeletti, Mr. Menesplier asked that the “three emerging candidates” be “respected”, that of Marie Buisson like those of Céline Verzeletti and Olivier Mateu.

Earlier in the morning, on the sidelines of the demonstration in Clermont-Ferrand as part of the 10th day of action against the pension reform, Céline Verzeletti said she was “available” to head a CGT “many more offensive.

Philippe Martinez had bid him farewell to the press, welcoming that the CGT was a “living organization”, open to “democratic debate”.

“All of the union members I see are proud to be at the CGT, of what it is leading in this fight with the other trade unions. It is the image of a protest organization that makes proposals, it is an image of the CGT as it is and not as sometimes we try to caricature it.