French trade unions and the mobilisation against the El Khomri law in 2016: a reconfiguration of strategies and alliances

Abstract

A number of French trade unions played a determining role in the opposition to the El Khomri law (also called the ‘loi Travail’) in Spring 2016. As well as large demonstrations and sector-level strikes, the movement also gave rise to the occupation of public spaces, such as the Place de la République in Paris. This new form of protest acquired the name ‘Nuit Debout’ (‘Up All Night’). This article examines the convergences, but also the tensions, which characterised the relations between the trade unions and Nuit Debout. It shows in particular how the Confédération générale du travail (CGT, General Confederation of Labour), a central actor in the protest, was caught in a dual and sometimes contradictory rationale. On the one hand, it was confronted with the particular dynamic of social movements, and with the capacity of trade unionism to mobilise and politicise the protest being called into question during the Nuit Debout movement. On the other hand, it faced certain constraints within the field of industrial relations, related to the issues of trade union competition and representativeness.