French unions recruit more members

France’s two biggest union confederations, the CGT and the CFDT, have both seen their membership increase in 2019, a period of major union action against the government’s pension plans.

Membership in the CFDT went up by 0.6% in 2019 rising to 625,525 and, for the first time, the confederation has more women in membership than men — women are 50.7% of membership and men, 49.3%.

Membership in the CGT, which has around 640,000 members, has also risen slightly for the first time since 2014. However, final figures are not yet available as the head office has been closed because of the coronavirus.

Union density in France is low, at just 10.8%, according to official estimates.

But it has been broadly stable since the mid-1990s, and the 2019 figures seem in line with this trend.