This election comes at the end of a night of negotiations during which neither of the two candidates hitherto approached, Marie Buisson, the dauphine of outgoing Secretary General Philippe Martinez, and Céline Verzeletti, failed to reach a consensus on their names.
Sophie Binet, born in 1982, is a former member of the student union Unef and former CPE (Principal Guidance Counsellor). She had been at the head of UGICT since 2018.
Coming from the Confederal Executive Commission, the extended leadership of the CGT, she was a referent of the women's diversity collective, and committed to environmental issues and gender equality.
Candidate "by default" according to some, she will have the difficult task of picking up the pieces of a deeply divided CGT, at a time when the central is in the front line in the fight against the pension reform.
This coup de théâtre comes after a week of stormy congresses, in the middle of the battle against the pension reform and a few days before a meeting of the inter-union in Matignon, an invitation proposed by Elisabeth Borne.
© 2023 AFP