Marc Fiacre Henri Blondel (2 May 1938 – 16 March 2014) was a French trade union leader. Born in Courbevoie, Blondel grew up with his mother in Hénin-Liétard, while his father was active in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. After the war, the family reunited in Paris, and Blondel went to secondary school in

Nanterre Nanterre (, ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, bordering t ...

, where he joined the Socialist Youth. He then went to study law while taking various part-time jobs, and one of these led him to join the

Trade Union Federation of PTT Workers FO Communication is a trade union representing communication workers in France, mostly working for La Poste and France Télécom. The union was established in April 1948 as the Trade Union Federation of PTT Workers, and affiliated to Workers' F ...

, part of

Workers' Force The General Confederation of Labor - Workers' Force (french: Confédération Générale du Travail - Force Ouvrière, or simply , FO), is one of the five major union confederations in France. In terms of following, it is the third behind the CGT ...

(FO). Blondel campaigned for

Algerian independence An independence referendum was held in French Algeria on 1 July 1962. It followed French approval of the Évian Accords in an April referendum. Voters were asked whether Algeria should become an independent state, co-operating with France; 99 ...

, and this led him to join the Autonomous Socialist Party. However, he disagreed with its merger into the Unified Socialist Party and so left political activity. Instead, he became active in the Grand Orient de France, becoming prominent in left-wing freemasonry. In 1960, Blondel began working for ASSEDIC, where he formed a network of union branches. This success led him to become secretary of the union representing workers in social organisations in the Paris region, and from 1961, he served on the executive of the Federation of Employees and Managers (FEC), and then its national secretary in 1965. He began advocating a merger between FO, the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), and the

French Democratic Confederation of Labour The French Democratic Confederation of Labour (french: link=no, Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT) is a national trade union center, one of the five major French confederations of trade unions, led since 2012 by Laurent ...

(CFDT). This was not popular with the FO leadership, but Blondel continued to rise in prominence, being active in

May 1968 The following events occurred in May 1968: May 1, 1968 (Wednesday) * CARIFTA, the Caribbean Free Trade Association, was formally created as an agreement between Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. * RAF Strike ...

movement, and in 1974 winning election as the general secretary of the FEC. In 1980, Blondel moved to work at the national office of FO, leading on economic issues, and in 1981 he was elected to the governing body of the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

. In 1989, he was elected as general secretary of FO, narrowly beating Jean-Claude Pitous, and becoming the first leader of FO not to have been part of its 1948 split from the CGT. His victory was owed in part to the support of the Trotskyist Workers' Party, and this led him to face inaccurate accusations of being a Trotskyist himself. Under Blondel's leadership, the FO adopted more radical policies, but faced falling membership. In 1995, it worked with the CGT to campaign against

Alain Juppé Alain Marie Juppé (; born 15 August 1945) is a French politician. A member of The Republicans (France), The Republicans, he was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced 1995 strikes ...

's plan to reorganise social security. He symbolically shook hands with the CGT leader,

Louis Viannet Louis Viannet (4 March 1933 – 22 October 2017) was a French trade union leader. Born in Vienne, Isère, Viannet began training as a controller for the Postes, Télégraphes et Téléphones (PTT). During the strikes of 1953, he was insp ...

. He was consistently re-elected with large majorities, until he retired in 2004. He then became president of the National Federation of Free Thought, the Friends of Fred Zeller, and the Friends of Léon Jouhaux.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blondel, Marc 1938 births 2014 deaths French trade union leaders People from Courbevoie Deaths from cancer in France Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery