Block Journal
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
en English
nl Nederlandsen Englishfr Françaisde Deutschit Italianopt Portuguêsru Русскийes Españolth ไทยzh-CN 简体中文hi हिन्दीja 日本語
  • Home
  • News
  • Crypto
  • Markets
  • Investing
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Charts
    • Crypto
    • Forex
    • Stocks
    • Commodities
  • Magazine
Magazine
Newsletter
  • Trending Now
  • Bitcoin
  • Altcoin
  • Ethereum
  • Analysis
  • Blockchain
  • Metaverse
  • NFT
  • DeFi
  • Web3
  • GameFi
  • ICO
  • Legal
  • Security
Block Journal
  • Home
  • News
  • Crypto
  • Markets
  • Investing
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Charts
    • Crypto
    • Forex
    • Stocks
    • Commodities
  • Magazine
en English
nl Nederlandsen Englishfr Françaisde Deutschit Italianopt Portuguêsru Русскийes Españolth ไทยzh-CN 简体中文hi हिन्दीja 日本語
No Result
View All Result
Block Journal
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Crypto
  • Markets
  • Investing
  • Videos
  • Charts
Home News

Philippe Martinez, the union leader taking on Macron

News Room by News Room
March 11, 2023
in News
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0 0
A A
0

With his bushy moustache and gruff manner, Philippe Martinez certainly looks the part of the revolutionary Frenchman as he leads protests aimed at forcing President Emmanuel Macron to abandon his bid to raise the retirement age.

But people who know him say the 61-year old boss of the CGT, France’s oldest and most hardline labour union, has carefully cultivated that image, which is in fact somewhat artificial. The real Martinez, they say, is a canny negotiator and pragmatist with a dry sense of humour.

The former metalworker at automaker Renault is now putting those skills, as well as his notoriety, to use in the most pivotal battle of his eight-year tenure at the helm of CGT.

Blocking Macron’s pensions reform is the immediate priority. But so is managing his succession (he steps down at the end of the month) and keeping the CGT relevant at a time when membership has fallen so much that it has lost its crown as France’s biggest union to the moderate CFDT.

“We must put France at a standstill to make the president hear us,” said Martinez on Monday. The CGT has hardened its tactics, with rolling strikes that have disrupted transport, blocked deliveries to petrol stations and cut electricity output at nuclear plants.

Martinez has been preparing for this moment since childhood. He was born in a Paris suburb to a Spanish republican activist mother. His father, a Frenchman, fought with anti-Franco forces in the Spanish civil war.

“Philippe grew up in a militant family so has been going to protests since he was a kid,” says Fabien Gâche, a former colleague at Renault. “The conviction that social progress can come only from workers establishing their power in the streets is something that is deep in his DNA.”

He first joined the Communist party’s youth wing in high school, but later left the party. At 21, he began working as a technician at the Renault factory in Boulogne-Billancourt on the outskirts of Paris. He remained at the French carmaker for his entire career.

At Renault, he joined and climbed the ranks of the CGT, which was founded in 1895 and has long been associated with international socialism and the Communist party. Dominique Andolfatto, a political scientist at the University of Burgundy, says that although the CGT was often seen as monolithic, it always contained diverse leftwing currents. “It is a union that is a reflection of French national history and symbolises the fragmentation of the left.”

By the 1970s, the CGT had 2mn members. But by the time Martinez was fighting for workers at Renault, the union was already on the wane. Globalisation led to a wave of factory shutdowns in France, while unions struggled to shield workers from the effects of more intense competition and deregulation in business. Membership has fallen to about 660,000 today, according to Andolfatto.

Martinez was not to solely to blame for the decline, according to Denis Gravouil, the head of the CGT branch representing workers in the cultural sector. He notes the frequent trips to companies of all sizes and types to hear from workers. “Everyone wanted to take selfies with him in the factories and at protest marches,” Gravouil says. “But he is not very diplomatic, so that has created tensions internally.”

Since the pensions protests started, the CGT has formed a successful coalition with seven other unions in what has turned out to be the biggest such mobilisation in decades. Martinez has allowed his critics to demonise him and the CGT for intransigence, letting the CFDT’s Laurent Berger be the face of the movement. In a front-page photo of the pair beaming at each other at a protest, the newspaper Libération dubbed the bromance “La lutte de miel”, which is a play on the French words for honeymoon and class warfare.

“Philippe Martinez is not some awful person as some would like to paint him,” said Berger in an interview. “He is a unionist who has carefully cultivated his image as a curmudgeon but actually he is totally focused on labour issues. He has led this movement in a very responsible manner.” 

Martinez is adamant that raising the retirement age to 64, which is paired in Macron’s proposed reforms with the requirement to work 43 years for a full pension, is profoundly unjust — he argues that it hurts blue-collar workers the most. The CGT wants people to retire at 60 with higher pensions for all, and he would fund it with higher taxes on companies and the rich.

A government official who knows Martinez audibly sighs when asked about the CGT’s pensions plan. “It would wipe out millions of jobs!” the person says. “Philippe is so dogmatic. His positions are out of date.” 

Within the CGT, Martinez is actually seen as a moderate who has sought to attract younger members by adding issues such as climate change and feminism to the union’s agenda. He has nominated Marie Buisson, a schoolteacher, to succeed him, although other candidates are also running. She would be the first woman to lead the CGT, and the only one at the head of any of the major unions today.

Asked by a TV journalist recently whether he would shave off his moustache once he retired since he no longer needed to “inspire fear”, Martinez shot back: “You don’t like my moustache?” Regardless of the fate of his facial hair, he vowed that he would “still be in the streets with my comrades although no longer at the front of the marches”.

This article has been amended to clarify that Marie Buisson will be the first woman to lead the CGT; other major unions have been led by a woman

leila.abboud@ft.com

Read the full article here

ShareTweetSharePinShareShareSend

Related News

How Bitcoin Spark is Revolutionizing the Crypto Space Alongside Ethereum
News

How Bitcoin Spark is Revolutionizing the Crypto Space Alongside Ethereum

September 21, 2023
News

SoftBank’s finance chief slams S&P Global for not upgrading group’s credit rating

September 21, 2023
What volatility? Bitcoin price dismisses FOMC, Mt. Gox with $26.7K dip
News

What volatility? Bitcoin price dismisses FOMC, Mt. Gox with $26.7K dip

September 21, 2023
Mt. Gox Rehabilitation Trustee Extends Repayment Deadline Again
News

Mt. Gox Rehabilitation Trustee Extends Repayment Deadline Again

September 21, 2023
News

Russia targets Ukrainian cities in pre-dawn missile attack

September 21, 2023
NFTs are ‘totally worthless’ says mainstream media, community responds
News

NFTs are ‘totally worthless’ says mainstream media, community responds

September 21, 2023
Is Ripple (XRP) About to Outperform Ethereum (ETH) By 500%?
News

Is Ripple (XRP) About to Outperform Ethereum (ETH) By 500%?

September 21, 2023
US Anti-CBDC bill moves a step closer to passing
News

US Anti-CBDC bill moves a step closer to passing

September 21, 2023
Will This Ripple Update Increase XRP’s Price? CTO Chips In
News

Ripple Plans to Hire Staff in These Countries

September 21, 2023

Discussion about this post

Latest News

GBP/USD bulls step in on US Dollar weakness

GBP/JPY: Phase of decline to extend on failure to defend support at 182 – SocGen

September 21, 2023
US, EU in talks on clean technology trade deal -FT

Stocks wilt, dollar marches higher as central banks spring surprises

September 21, 2023
BlackRock’s Rick Rieder eyes potential Fed ‘split’ on whether to do more rate hikes in 2023

BlackRock’s Rick Rieder eyes potential Fed ‘split’ on whether to do more rate hikes in 2023

September 21, 2023
Bitcoin (BTC) Consolidates as UK Inflation Falls

Bitcoin (BTC) Consolidates as UK Inflation Falls

September 21, 2023
Ethereum Whales and Buterin Move $31 Million in ETH

Ethereum Whales and Buterin Move $31 Million in ETH

September 21, 2023
ADVERTISEMENT

Popular

  • Fed’s Williams: Expects inflation to decline to around 3.25% this year

    Fed Preview: Forecasts from 15 major banks, a pause, but the end of rate hikes?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Basic Attention Token to implement KYC-free on-chain payouts

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • We must stop climate solutions from killing biodiversity

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Ukraine steps up efforts to break Russia’s Black Sea blockade

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Bitcoin Onchain Data Show Bullish Undercurrents

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Block Journal

Block Journal is the world’s leading source in blockchain news and updates. Follow us to stay up-to-date with all you need to know in web3.

LEARN MORE »

Recent Posts

  • How Bitcoin Spark is Revolutionizing the Crypto Space Alongside Ethereum
  • GBP/JPY: Phase of decline to extend on failure to defend support at 182 – SocGen
  • Stocks wilt, dollar marches higher as central banks spring surprises

Trending Topics

AI Altcoin Analysis Bitcoin Blockchain Commodities Crypto DeFi Ethereum Forex Futures GameFi ICO Interview Investing Legal Markets Metaverse News NFT Security Stocks Uncategorized Videos Web3

Get Informed

The most important crypto and finance news and events of the day

Be the first to know latest important news & events directly to your inbox.

By signing up, I agree to our TOS and Privacy Policy.

  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Press Release
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 Block Journal - Created by Sawah Solutions.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Crypto
  • Markets
  • Investing
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Charts
    • Crypto
    • Forex
    • Stocks
    • Commodities
  • Magazine

Copyright © 2023 Block Journal - Created by Sawah Solutions.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.