The Railway Workers' Federation (french: Fédération des Cheminots) is the largest

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

representing workers on the railways in France.

History

The union was founded in 1917 as the National Federation of Railway Workers of France, the Colonies and the Protectorate Countries, and affiliated to the General Confederation of Labour (CGT). In 1921, many members left to join the

United General Confederation of Labour United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

, but they rejoined in 1935, and this took membership from 165,000 to a claimed 320,000. In 1939, union members who refused to denounce the German-Soviet pact were expelled, and in 1942,

Pierre Semard Pierre Semard (15 February 1887, Bragny-sur-Saône, Saône-et-Loire – 7 March 1942, Évreux, Eure) was a trade unionist, secretary general of the federation of railway-workers and leader of the French Communist Party (acting as its secretary ge ...

, the union's former leader, was executed by the

Vichy regime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

. The union was banned during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but reformed after the war, and in 1946 it had 394,000 members. In 1947, many on the right-wing of the union left to join

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 ...

. The CGT union remained the largest on the railways, and regularly undertook

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike action, strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay a ...

in defense of pay and conditions. By 1994, the union had 58,822 members. By 2019, this had declined slightly to 42,640.

General Secretaries

:1917: Marcel Bidegaray :1920:

Gaston Monmousseau Gaston René Léon Monmousseau (17 January 1883 – 11 July 1960) was a French railway worker, trade union leader, politician and author, from a rural working-class background. He became an anarcho-syndicalist, then a communist, and played a lead ...

, Edmond Lévêque, Henri Sirolle and Lucien Midol :1920: Marcel Bidegaray :1921: Adolphe Montagne :1923: Paul Le Guen :1926: Jean Jarrigion :1935:

and Jean Jarrigion :1940: Roger Liaud :1944: Raymond Tournemaine and Gérard Ouradou :1948: Raymond Tournemaine :1953: Robert Hernio :1961:

Georges Séguy Georges Séguy (16 March 1927 – 13 August 2016) was a French trade union leader. Born in Toulouse, Séguy's father was a communist and trade unionist, and Pierre Semard was a family friend. In 1940, Séguy joined the illegal Communist Yo ...

:1965: Charles Massabieaux :1976: Georges Lanoue :1993: Bernard Thibault :2000: Didier Le Reste :2010: Gilbert Garrel :2017: Laurent Brun

References

External links

* {{Authority control Railway labor unions Trade unions established in 1917 Trade unions in France