40% of French people “rather trust” (35%) or “very trust” (5%) in unions, indicates the latest wave of the Sciences Po-Cevipof – OpinionWay barometer, published on February 13.
The investigation, entitled “What do the French trust today? », was carried out from January 8 to 29 with a representative sample of 3,514 people. In 2024, unions will have their best performance since the launch in 2009 of this barometer, which follows large organizations and institutions (businesses, justice, unions, political parties, media, etc.).
Having fallen to 27% in the mid-2010s, the confidence rating of unions has long stagnated at this level. The busy social news of 2018 did not benefit them, because the “yellow vests” who took center stage kept them at bay. They had to wait until February 2020 to truly begin their recovery, riding the succession of crises which established them as protectors of employee rights. The health crisis has put them back at the center of the game by launching an unprecedented wave of negotiations around teleworking.
The government’s desire to carry out unpopular social reforms then benefited them. “The battle against pension reform has given visibility and clarity to trade union organizations,” confirms Frédéric Souillot, general secretary of Force Ouvrière (FO). A lost battle, but the French apparently don’t hold it against them. “We didn’t win, it’s true, but (…) the workers have (…) expressed their dignity, their demand for respect, better valorization of their work, better conditions in which to carry it out… They recognized themselves in the trade union organizations which carried these messages with responsibility and obstinacy”analyzes Yvan Ricordeau, deputy general secretary of the CFDT.
Union deserts
The performance of French unions must however be put into perspective, in view of the results of this barometer in other European countries. The confidence rate recorded in France at 40% remains better than that of Poland (35%) and Italy (33%), but lower than that of Germany (56%).
Why do French employee defense organizations inspire less confidence than their German counterparts? We can consider that, in this type of survey, trust goes hand in hand with proximity and the possibility of interpersonal contact. However, France has many more union deserters than Germany, since the unionization rate of employees peaked at 10.1% in 2019, according to the Ministry of Labor, compared to some 17% across the Rhine.
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