In his political editorial on Wednesday, Nicolas Beytout evokes the tensions within the CGT between Philippe Martinez and certain federations.

In question, an attempt by the union to politicize itself in an attempt to regain a more important place in the public debate.

An investigation by your newspaper, l'Opinion, reveals the existence of strong tensions within the CGT.

Yes, between the secretary general, Philippe Martinez, and some of his most powerful federations, the energy and especially the CGT railway workers, led by a tough guy, Laurent Brun, well known to all the French who struggled during the last strikes in the SNCF. 

And what do they blame Philippe Martinez? 

To politicize the CGT.

You will say to me, it is a shame, coming from a trade union organization which for decades had officially been linked with the Communist Party.

But this period is formally over for more than 20 years, even if the ties remain very strong (Laurent Brun himself has his Party card himself). 

So where is the problem ? 

The green people. The operation politicization of the CGT led by Philippe Martinez is directed towards the ecologists, with a nebula of associations, most often of the extreme left. Objective: to go beyond the traditional framework of the working world.

It is a fact that unions have been losing momentum for years.

After being superbly ignored by Emmanuel Macron at the start of his mandate, they only found a place in social life thanks to (if I may say so) the conflict over pension reform.

But a conflict, even brutal and long (and winning), is not the daily life of a union.

Moreover, the CGT has lost its rank as the leading workers' center in France.

I would add that confinement and the rise in teleworking are two realities that damage the collective.

So that in total, it is not absurd for a union to rethink itself. 

And therefore to try to extend its field of action to politics. 

Exactly.

Except that putting Green in the red of the CGT is not that simple: the union is indeed a fervent defender of the industry, including that which pollutes (these are jobs).

And the one that does not pollute (nuclear power, a stronghold of the CGT not really very popular among ecologists).

So, spilling over into social issues, getting involved in people's lives other than at work, okay, but then how do you navigate all these contradictory political lines?

And then, playing politics with associations whose social legitimacy remains to be proven, it is a bit, for the old people of the old CGT, to make a cross on what they have always been drummed: you are the legitimate representatives of the working class.

The basic bobo and the shock worker do not necessarily mix well. 

And what can all this lead to?

The crisis will last (besides, it is more or less a permanent state in this union).

But either Philippe Martinez holds firm, and the CGT will join the CFDT which itself has done this work of enlargement (with its concept of "the power to live").

Either the internal opponents win, and as always in this kind of case, the union will go towards withdrawal and hardening.