Force Ouvrière: at end of its 25th congress, union will change direction

Yves Veyrier, in office since November 2018, will in principle pass the hand to Frédéric Souillot. Syndicat’s activists and executives salute the work of the outgoing secretary general.

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This time, there should be no suspense. At the end of his 25 e congress, which takes place from Monday May 30 to Friday June 3 in Rouen, Force Ouvrière (FO) will change direction: the outgoing secretary general, Yves Veyrier, Pass The hand and will be – except for theater – replaced by Frédéric Souillot, who is close to him. Unknown to the general public, this 54 -year -old confederal manager is almost guaranteed to prevail, with a clear advance, facing the other candidate, Christian Grolier, the leader of the General Federation of FO officials. The passing of power will be, in all likelihood, more serene than the previous one, even if it is necessary to expect animated debates between the activists of an organization where multiple sensitivities coexist – from Freemasonry to the left of the left.

FO comes back from afar. In November 2018, Mr. Veyrier had taken the reins after a very undecided election, where he had ahead of a short head Mr. Grolier – already in the running at the time -, the third pretender, Patrice Clos, being more widely distant . The election took place in a context of crisis, after the revelation of a file of the union executives who had forced Pascal Pavageau, then secretary general, to resign less than six months after being appointed number one. The Confederation was undermined by fratricidal quarrels.

“He mastered his files”

Three and a half years later, the air has become more breathable again. Mr. Veyrier, who was presented, at the end of 2018, as having the support of the reformists of his Confederation, brought back the tensions. “He arrived at his post in conditions that were not simple and he knew how to hold the handle,” recognizes Zaïnil Nizaraly, the manager of the Federation of Equipment, the Environment, Transport and Services.

Many activists also salute the way in which the outgoing secretary general opposed the universal pension system project, carried by Emmanuel Macron during his first five -year term. “It was effective and has perfectly played its role,” says Philippe Grasset, the boss of the FO finance federation. “He was respectful of the mandate entrusted to him and has mastered his files, including in their technical dimensions,” adds Jocelyne Baussant, head of the Departmental Union of Deux-Sèvres.

Between 2017 and 2021, the representativeness of FO in the private sector was very slightly crumbled, but the union maintained its third position, behind the CFDT and the CGT. It was also very active during the negotiation, in 2020, of two national interprofessional agreements on remote activity and on occupational health. As a high ranking of the power station sums it up, Mr. Veyrier “put the” conf “on the rails”, taking care to be firm in the speech and to remain force of proposal.

m. Souillot is part of this logic in the text he sent internally, just over a month ago, to formalize his candidacy. It can count on the suffrage of reformists, in particular the powerful Fo-Metal federation from which it comes, and from part of the Trotskyists. The latter had given their preference to Mr. Grolier in 2018. Today, the head of the Federation of Civil servants is described as having the support of the anarcho-syndicalists, while these “rolled” for Mr. Clos there is three and a half years. The scores within the organization granting him only a quarter of the votes, it is not excluded that Mr. Grolier retires before the ballot, scheduled for Friday.