Union renewal in France and Hyman’s universal dualism

Abstract

This paper draws upon the work of Richard Hyman to examine the question of union renewal in France. Developing a discussion around union renewal is particularly significant in the context of France, since studies on French unions since the mid-1980s have centred on the movement’s ‘decline’ and ‘crisis’, and France has rarely been included in comparative studies on union renewal and revitalisation. The paper uses empirical data collected from 2003-2010 to present a case study of SUD-Rail, a breakaway union formed in the French public railway sector in 1996 from an ideological split with one of France’s largest union confederations, the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT). SUD-Rail forms part of a wider set of SUD unions that have emerged since the late-1980s with the stated aim of revitalising French unionism by mobilising new collectivities and energising workplace union structures. This paper analyses the development of this movement over the last fifteen years, its attempts to renew and revitalise collective action and organisation, and explores the wider implications for union renewal in France. The paper argues that the development of SUD-Rail represents evidence of Hyman’s oft-mentioned tension in the identity of unions as both movements and organisations which has wider implications for understanding the possibilities and limitations of union action.