Green, feminist and from a white-collar union branch, Sophie Binet, a one-time student unionist, has her hands full dealing with what has traditionally been a muscular union centred on heavy industry
One reason is that all eight French unions have stuck together throughout. Another is that the public-sector workers who usually fill the streets have been joined by young people and private-sector employees. Only 10.8% of French workers belong to a union, compared with 23.5% in Britain and 16.3% in Germany. But French unions derive their strength from their ability to pack protest rallies, as well as the strong statutory role they enjoy within firms.
The most arresting reason involves a change of leadership. In March, for the first time in its 128-year history, the, a union with links to the Communist Party, elected a female leader, Sophie Binet. Aged 41, the one-time student unionist is as relaxed in a television studio as she is behind a megaphone. She also has a knack for the one-liner.
If Mr Berger does go into politics, he could be a formidable challenger to any centrist successor to Mr Macron. The union leader deplores the way the president imposed pension reform, outrage that taps into a strong popular feeling. Yet he is thoughtful about how work culture needs to change. Mr Berger plans to take some time out to think about the left’s future, as well as his own. “Am I going to disappear?” he asks. “Evidently not.
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