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What is the General Confederation of Labour of France ?
Bernard Thibault

Publisher : L'Archipel Collection : l'Information citoyenne 144 pages English version French version CGT General Confederation of Labour of France Bernard Thibault, General Secretary 263, rue de Paris 93516 Montreuil cedex Phone number : 00 33 01 48 18 80 00 Email : info@cgt.fr Website : www.cgt.fr

Printable blurb

Summary
The General Confederation of Labour (CGT : Confédération Générale du Travail) was founded at the end of the nineteenth century, and is the oldest and most influential French trade union. It has been at the forefront of all the major industrial movements from June 1936 through to May 1968 and December 2005. It played a decisive role in the strikes supported by all the trade unions for the withdrawal of the CPE (contrat première embauche = first job contract) in 2006.
Hard copy available only at CGT's siege.

Author’s biography
Bernard Thibault, a worker at the Paris–La Villlette train depot, became general secretary of the CGT’s railway workers’ federation at the age of 34. He played an important role in the 1995 strikes, which led the government to back down and negotiate two sensitive issues : the pensions reform and the future of the French rail service (SNCF). In February 1999, aged 40, Bernard Thibault was elected general secretary of the CGT. Re-elected in 2003 and 2006, he has introduced a fresh approach, his strategy being to bring together and reinforce French trade unionism in a European context. With Bernard Thibault at its head, the CGT reasserted its role as a leading body in social and industrial confrontations and negotiations in the autumn of 2007.