Can FO lose control of Marseille?

• Professional elections take place from December 1 to 8.

• In Marseilles, the city has been held for seventy years by Force Ouvrière.

• With an FO in decline in recent years, can the ballot change this time?

In Marseille, the mayors pass (a little) and Force Ouvrière remains.

Seventy years of an unchallenged reign, from Gaston Deferre to Benoît Payan via Jean-Claude Gaudin or Robert Vigouroux.

The story is well known: Gaston Deferre, socialist and fervent anti-communist elected in 1953, propels the young dissident branch of the CGT to counter the influence of the "reds" who hold the port firmly.

But from professional elections to professional elections, the union, regularly described as co-manager of the city, a sort of "state within a state", is losing some of its luster.

In the last ballot, four years ago, it fell below 50% for the first time, with 43.62% of the vote, but retained an absolute majority with eight of the fifteen seats.

What will happen on the evening of December 8 at the end of these elections organized over a week?

“This year, everything is in danger of tipping over,” wants to believe Ludovic Bedrossian, CFTC Cfe/Cgc staff representative.

Second in the ballot with 15.5% of the vote in 2018, his organization hopes to make further progress.

This is all the more so since for the first time the vote will be electronic for the 16,000 municipal agents.

"It can be favorable to us, as we are first among executives," he says.

A voting method that does not delight Patrick Rué, secretary general of FO for the city and the metropolis.

“That is our main concern.

It could have been not bad, but in fact it is very complicated.

We see it with agents who ask us how it works.

The digital divide is still real.

So, those who are determined to vote will succeed, but those who hesitate will let go at the first hitch”.

Another downside: some “Marseilles” cases in which the union finds itself splashed.

In September,

told you about the alleged hijackings within the city's car fleet.

Earlier this week,

revealed exchanges of money for promises of employment within the garbage collection service of the metropolis that would have orchestrated an activist of FO.

Patrick Rué would almost smile, he is so used to it.

“It is regularly that the information comes out three days before the elections, he breathes.

This story has been known since June.

You know, we have 4,000 members, if tomorrow there is one who assassinates his mother-in-law, we will say: "it's FO".

Being the union to shoot down, it's been thirty years since the leader of FO got used to it.

"We had tougher, more violent and more political campaigns too, with the CGT in the 1990s," he recalls.

“The only question is how much we will win”

When it became mayor in 2020, Printemps Marseillais intended to put an end to this “co-management”.

“Did they really have the will, questions Yannis Darieux, FSU delegate to the city.

“What we see is that in the inter-union we are all together, except FO, who wants to be received separately.

For us, there is always this co-management and this cronyism.

In schools, agents tell me that such a person goes up because it is a girlfriend FO.

You have to understand that the union is involved in all decision-making strata,” he continues.

Same story on the side of the CGT of Marseille hospitals, in which FO is the majority.

“The officers are afraid and under pressure.

We can't get out of this recurring problem with this majority union, ”explains Pascale Jourdan.

“We just ask to be considered up to what we represent.

We weigh 44% in a one-round election.

A score to make politicians green.

We remind them from time to time.

The new municipality wanted to amplify the social dialogue by leaving the possibility for the other unions to discuss, but they still complain about it as much, ”tackles Patrick Rué.

“And when other unions defend a career, that's unionism.

When it's us, is it cronyism?

he replies.

From his headquarters on Boulevard d'Athènes, the powerful secretary general of the city's historic union remains confident at the start of this election, which begins this Thursday and will last 8 days.

“The only question is not whether FO will win, but how much will we win?

".

An answer that will be given after the vote summoning the 16,000 municipal agents.

With an additional question: with this novelty of electronic voting, what will be the participation rate, up sharply in 2018, with just under one in two civil servants having moved.

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• Marseilles

• Paca

• OF

• Elections

• Union

• CGT