BEERG Newsletter - France: Force Ouvrière (FO) elects new leader

Frédéric Souillot, previously chief of the metalworkers’ section, has been elected as the new general secretary of Force Ouvrière (FO), the third largest French trade union federation. FO is a fractious organisation, made-up of “reformists” - those willing to negotiate - and Trotskyists and anarchists, who favour a more confrontation approach to “capitalism” and the “state”.

Souillot has led the metalworkers since 2008 and had been a member of FO’s executive board since 2015. His election at a conference of the union last week comes after several turbulent years for FO, which saw the resignation of a previous general secretary, Pascal Pavageau, when it was discovered that he had a “black” file on union rivals.

The conference ended with the federation united in its determination to fight President Macron’s plan to raise the pension age from 62 to 65. FO wants to see it brought down to 60. The union will also focus on works council elections in the civil service later this year, its traditional stronghold.