Posted 2 Feb. 2023 at 06:55 PMUpdated Feb 2. 2023 at 20:58
Philippe Martinez had to come to terms with it. At the written request of a majority of CGT federations, the National Confederal Committee (CCN) of the central, made up of federal and departmental numbers, discussed on Wednesday the management team which will be appointed at the Clermont-Ferrand congress. , end of March.
The subject had been relegated by the confederal leadership following 9 p.m. in an attempt to limit the duration of the debates and contain the revolt once morest Marie Buisson, the candidate that the outgoing secretary general is trying to impose to succeed him. It didn’t work out as the meeting continued until 4:30 in the morning.
“Violent” exchanges
During these six hours of discussion, the exchanges were “very violent”, according to several sources. The sixty or so interventions were divided between those who demanded the construction of an alternative of “gathering” to the candidacy of Marie Buisson and those who defended it, the two camps returning the responsibility of dividing the organization.
With sometimes counter-intuitive interventions, as when the number one of the railway workers, the very communist Laurent Brun, opposed to the appointment of Marie Buisson, explained in substance that the time of democratic centralism where the outgoing number one chose the next was finished. Like other representatives of federations, the railwayman insisted on the refusal of management to work collectively on the future management team.
Final maneuver
On the side of the supporters of Marie Buisson, the accusations of “struggle for places” have rocketed. But the interventions mainly focused on the fact that she is a woman. Now “the power is us”, even said a head of departmental union, while Catherine Perret castigated “those who, in the territories, terrorize women”. This close friend of Philippe Martinez also said she was “proud” of having signed the women’s petition in support of Marie Buisson, whose covert author is none other than the chief of staff of number one, which concentrates the reviews.
At the very end of the meeting, Philippe Martinez attempted a final maneuver. Since he announced his departure and presented Marie Buisson in June to succeed him, he has always refused to submit the teacher’s candidacy to the CCN’s vote before the congress. To everyone’s surprise, without it being on the agenda, he asked in a final intervention for a vote on the candidacy of Marie Buisson, this one doing the same. Without success. Several voices were raised to refuse the method, to say that they had no mandate from their organization or simply to leave the room.
Open crisis
Did the leader of the CGT try to “kill the match”, according to the expression of a CGT member? More specifically, did he think that the teacher would pass the test although the balance of power in the event of a vote on the basis of the unionized workforce of each other is far from certain? Or was it a question of throwing the responsibility for the open crisis on its opponents?
The federations will have to decide whether to ask for a final meeting of the CGT “parliament” on the future direction. Failing this, the succession will be settled at the congress. “If there are candidates, let them say so,” Catherine Perret asked the CCN, without having an answer.
For the time being, in addition to Marie Buisson, only the ultra Olivier Mateu, of the Departmental Union of Bouches-du-Rhône, has declared himself, but his candidacy is a priori not admissible and, in any event , it will not collect.
