There are five main union confederations in France, CFDT, CGT, FO, CFTC and CFE-CGC, and union density is one of the lowest in Europe, with only 10% of employees in unions. Despite this French trade unions have an influential institutional position and have strong workers’ support in elections for employee representatives, as well as the ability to mobilise on the streets. 1
Union density and structure
Estimates from Dares, the research and statistical section of the French Ministry of Labour indicate that in 2019 10.3% of French employees were union members. 2 With around 26 million employees in France, including both the public and private sectors, this means that there were some 2.7 million trade unionists in employment at that time. In addition, the unions have some unemployed and retired members, who in 2004 made up a fifth of total trade union membership. 3 The OECD/AIAS ICTWSS database, using earlier Dares figures, reports union density at 10.8% in 2016. 4
Since the late 1940s, there have been five main union confederations with membership across the whole of the economy. They are the CGT, CFDT, CGT-FO (better known as FO), the CFTC and the CFE-CGC. The political positions of the five confederations are set out in more detail below, but in broad terms the CGT can be seen as generally more militant; the CFDT is more moderate; FO contains a number of political currents; the CFTC is the Christian confederation; and the CFE-CGC primarily represents professional and managerial employees.
These five are all considered to be “representative” unions at national level, which gives them both status and rights, particularly in collective bargaining), although the basis on which they have representative status changed in 2008 (see below).
Outside these five there are other union groupings, of which the most significant are UNSA, Solidaires, which both bring together unions, from across the economy but is strongest in the public sector, and the FSU which primarily operates in education.
For many years, the CGT, CFDT, FO, CFTC and the CFE-CGC were all considered "representative" at national level, without being required to demonstrate a specific level of support. This nationally “representative” status automatically gave them rights to negotiate and to nominate candidates for workplace elections, although for the CFE-CGC this only applied in respect of professional and managerial staff.
However, this situation, which after 1966 remained unaltered for more than 40 years, changed in 2008, when new criteria for determining a union’s representative status, were introduced (see Legal framework). For the first time, these included the requirement to have at least a certain level of support from employees in order to be representative at national level. This was set at 8.0% and based on a combination of the results of in elections for representational structures at the workplace in companies with at least 11 employees, (for details see Workplace representation), results from regional elections in companies with 10 employees or fewer, and separate elections for employees in agriculture.
Since then, three rounds of elections have been held, and on each occasion the five traditionally representative union confederations have held onto their representative status, obtaining more than 8.0% support. The results of the most recent round for the period 2021 to 2024 were announced in April 2025. 5 The CFDT topped the poll, with the support of 26.6% of employees voting, followed by 22.2% for the CGT, 14.9% for FO, 12.9% for CFE-CGC and 9.6% for the CFTC. The smaller confederations failed to get the necessary 8% support to become nationally representative, with UNSA gaining 6.4% of the votes and Solidaires 3.7%. Other union groupings got a total of 3.6%. The overall turnout in the elections was 36.5%.
These figures only relate to the private sector. There are separate elections for the public sector, and here the results are significantly different. The most recent figures, for the elections in December 2022, show the CGT at the top of the table with 21.3%, followed by FO on 18.9% and CFDT with 18.8% support. However, UNSA is in fourth place with 11.8%, with the education union FSU getting 9.2% and Solidaires on 5.9%. These unions were ahead of the two other nationally representative unions in the private sector, CFE-CGC which got 3.4% and CFTC 2.5%. 6
The 2008 rules on representation could, in principle, have encouraged union mergers, as unions need to have a certain level of support to maintain their status. However, the fact that all five of the traditionally representative confederations have regularly cleared the 8% hurdle and continue to be nationally representative has removed any immediate pressure to merge in order to protect their status.
In contrast to the levels of support that the union confederations have in the elections of employee representatives, which are published by the government, figures on union membership are less publicly available.
The CFDT publishes annual figures on its membership and in 2024 it reported that it had 634,278 members in December 2023. 7 This is slightly more than the CGT, which reported to its 53rd congress in 2023 that it had 605,603 members in 2020. Of these 91,154 (15%) were described as being individual members, many of whom will be retired. 8
FO does not publish figures, but its former general secretary, Yves Veyrier, stated in an interview in 2022 that it had around 350,000 members. 9 The CFTC states on its website that it has 145,000 members. 10 The CFE-CGC appears to be of similar size. The financial report to its 38th congress in 2023 states that the CFE-CGC had 148,967 paid-up members in 2021. 11
Among the non-nationally representative groupings, UNSA states on its website that it has 200,000 members 12 and Solidaires 110,000. 13 These membership numbers, which are relatively high in relation to the support UNSA and Solidaires receive in the elections in the private sector, reflect their greater strength in the public sector.
FSU, which describes itself as the second largest union in the public sector and the largest in education, states that it has 160,000 members. 14
Individual unions
All the main confederations are organised on similar lines. The basic unit, which has considerable autonomy, is the local union grouping (syndicat), union members in the same industry and location. These local unions are organised at the same time into both industry federations and geographical groupings, possibly both at regional level and departmental level.
The CFDT for examples has 1,100 local union groupings, with an average size or around 600 members, who are organised both into 15 separate industry federations, from agriculture and food to transport and the environment, and into 13 regional unions. There are also separate groupings for the retired, for managers and for civil servants. 15
The CGT has 29 industry federations, and, as well as 13 regional unions and a structure at departmental (UDs) and more local level (ULs). 16 Its local groupings are on average smaller than those in the CFDT. Although the CGT does not publish a national figure, the health federation said in 2018 that its 78,321 members were grouped in 1,460 local unions, producing an average size of 54. 17 These are the grouped in ULs, which on average have 738 members each. 18
The FO has 22 industry federations and 104 departmental unions. 19 CFE-CGC has 27 industry federations and 13 regional union in metropolitan France, as well as 230 local union groups (syndicats), 20 and the CFTC is also organised in industry federations and regional unions. 21
The two union groupings that are not nationally representative are also set up in a similar way. UNSA has 22 federations, eight of which are in the public sector, as well as a regional and departmental structure. 22 Solidaires also has national federations plus unions for specific companies and industries and a departmental structure. 23
Although some industry federations, like the CGT rail union, the Fédération CGT des cheminots, play a significant role, power is concentrated at the level of the confederation.
The FSU is not a confederation, primarily organising workers in education. However, as well as a departmental structure, it has separate national union groupings for specific areas, some of which are outside education, such as a union for workers in the ministry of foreign affairs and some prison personnel.
There are also two individual unions in the public sector, which have enough support in the elections for workplace representatives to be listed separately in the publication of results. These are the FA-FP, which won 3.3% of the votes in the election in 2022, and the FGAF, which got only 0.3% support.
Political position
There are political and strategic differences between the main union groupings in France, both between the five nationally representative confederation and the bodies that are not nationally representative, although the traditional read-over, which aligns the CFDT with the socialist party and the CGT with the communist party has not applied for decades.
The comprehensive 2023 study on French unions identifies “two union poles”, which increasingly work together: “On one side, cooperation between ‘reformist’ unions CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC and UNSA has become quasi-permanent. On the other, coordination is now frequent between the oppositional organisations CGT, FSU and USS [Solidaires], joined more and more often by FO”. 24
These differences were reflected in the discussions about changing retirement arrangements in the first half of 2025. While all confederations oppose the increase in the retirement age to 64, and the discussions with the employers and the government finally broke down, the CFDT, CFTC and CFE-CGC continued negotiating until the end, while both the CGT and FO left the negotiations at a much earlier stage. 25
As well as indicating the different approaches of the union confederations, these talks, which were initiated by the prime minister, also show the influence of the unions, with the government keen to get union support for new arrangements.
Looking at the positions of the confederations more generally, the CFDT describes itself on its website as “a trade union, which prefers to find solutions through dialogue and negotiation” but will mobilise to defend its demands”. 26
The CGT, on the other hand, refers on its website to the need “to defend [workers’] interests against oppression and exploitation, to win and assert their rights, to imagine a fairer world and propose ways to achieve it”. 27
FO emphasises its specific campaigns and demands on its website, stating that it is “united to defend the rights of employees, improve them and obtain new ones”. 28
The CFTC describes itself as a “reformist union”, looking to reach “win-win agreements for both employees and businesses”. 29
The CFE-CGC sees its specific role as representing the interests of higher-grade employees, such as senior technicians and middle-management.
UNSA, in its statutes refers to developing “a reformist trade union movement”, 30 while Solidaires refers on its website to its vision of “a trade unionism of struggle and social transformation”. 31
Legal framework
The right to belong to a trade union of one’s choice is included in the preamble to the 1946 constitution. 32 Legislation guarantees that all employees have the right to found or belong to a union and that the employer is prohibited from pressuring an employee to either join or not join a union or to take union activities into account in decisions on issues such as pay, training, promotion or access to training. 33
Other legislation sets out union rights in relation to collective bargaining and workplace representation, and in 2008 new legislation was introduced covering a union’s representative status. 34 This law requires a union to win at least 10% of the votes at company level to be considered representative at company level, 8% of the votes at industry level to be considered representative at industry level, and 8% of the votes at national level to be considered representative at national level. The votes used as the basis of these calculations are the votes in the first round of the elections, when only unions can nominate candidates.
Membership trends
The most recent official figures, which compare trade union density in 2019 with the position in 2013, show a fall of 0.9 percentage points over the period, down from 11.2% to 10.3%. 35 The fall was greater in the public sector, down from 19.8% to 18.4% than in the private sector, down from 8.7% to 7.8%, although union density in the public sector is still more than twice as high as in the public sector.
The Dares report including these figures found that the growing use of short-term contracts had contributed to the fall in union density, including in the public sector.
The confederations have sought to reverse this membership loss, with the CGT, for example, launching a campaign of unionisation in February 2020. 36 The CFDT, which also promotes union recruitment, has been able to increase its membership by 1.7% between 2017, which it began to publish annual figures, and 2023. However, this rise is well below the increase in the number of employees, which grew by 7.1% over the same period.
Despite their weakness in terms of membership, French trade unions have been able to mobilise their members and workers more generally for mass action. For example, at the end of 2019 and the start of 2020, the unions were able to bring hundreds of thousands onto the streets to protest against the government’s pensions plans.
Women
Men are generally more likely to be union members than women: 11.0% of male employees were union members in 2019, compared with 9.5% of female employees. 37 This is true both in the public sector, where density was 20.9% for men and 17.0% for women, and in the private sector, where density was 8.9% for men and 6.4% for women.
Most confederations do not publish a breakdown of their members by sex. Two that do are the CFDT, 52% of whose membership are women, and the CFTC, where 46% of the membership are women. 38
Collective bargaining takes place at national, industry and company level and at each level there are detailed rules about who can negotiate and the requirements for an agreement to be valid. Industry level agreements are the most important level for negotiation in terms of numbers covered, although legislation has given precedence to company level agreements in certain areas. 39
Collective bargaining coverage and structure
The OECD estimates collective bargaining coverage (the proportion of employees whose pay and conditions are set through collective bargaining) at 98.0% in 2018. 40
Collective bargaining can take place at three levels: at the national level covering all private sector employees; at the industry level which can involve national, regional or local bargaining; and at company or plant level.
The framework for collective bargaining was substantially changed by a series of legal measures introduced between 2004 and 2017. These tightened and clarified the rules on who is entitled to bargain, and when agreements are valid, and generally increased the importance of company-level agreements at the expense of industry level negotiations.
However, the legislation introduced in 2007 was and exception to this trend as it strengthened the importance of national level collective bargaining, so-called négociation nationale interprofessionnelle. 41 It gave unions and employers a much clearer role in the development of legislation in the areas of industrial relations, employment and training. Under its terms, when the government wishes to make changes in these areas, it must first consult with employers and unions based on a document setting out its analysis of the situation, aims and potential options, and allow them, if possible, to reach an agreement on the issue. The government must also formally consult on the draft legislation. This system does not commit the government to accept any agreement and in cases of “urgency” it can bypass the process entirely, but it clearly strengthens the importance of the negotiations between unions and employers at national level.
An indication of the significance of this level of negotiation is provided by the fact that the 2008 legislation reforming the rules on the representative status of unions (see Legal framework) was in line with a common position reached by the CGT and CFDT and the employers, although not the other unions, in these national level discussions.
Figures from the report on collective bargaining produced each year by the ministry of labour indicate that five economy-wide national level texts were agreed in 2023, compared with just one in 2022. 42 The 2023 agreements covered sharing value within the company, ecological transition, accidents at work and occupational disease, unemployment insurance and complementary pensions. Three further agreements were signed in November 2024, after an initial period when national-level negotiations appeared to be blocked. These were an amendment to the 2023 unemployment insurance agreement, an agreement on social dialogue, asking for legal changes in the rules on the number of times employee representatives can be re-elected, and an agreement on the employment of older workers. 43
Industry-level bargaining is the most important level for collective bargaining, in terms of the numbers of employees covered, and, although, in some areas, company agreements now take precedence, there are others, such as minimum pay rates, where industry-level agreements continue to set the rules. There are also certain issues where negotiations are obligatory (see Subjects covered in agreements )
Figures from Dares published in the 2023 report on collective bargaining, show that at the end of 2022 there were 418 separate groups of employees covered by industry-level agreements. However, there are big differences in their size and significance. The 272 agreements covering at least 5,000 employees account for 98.8% of all employees covered by collective agreements, while the 70 covering between 1,000 and 4,999 employees make up just 1.0% of all employees and the 76 covering fewer than 1,000 account for a tiny 0.1%. 44 Many of the published statistics, therefore, only examine the agreements covering 5,000 or more.
There will often be several agreements covering different aspects of terms and conditions for the same industry grouping, and there is a legal requirement to negotiate on some of them (see Subjects covered in agreements). As a result, the ministry of labour’s annual report on collective bargaining always shows a higher number of industry-level agreements than industry groupings. The report for 2023 shows that 1,122 industry-level agreements of various types had been signed for that year by 15 March 2024, with a small number expected to be registered after that date. 45 Of these 520 dealt with pay, although in some cases more than one pay increases was linked to the same main agreement.
These industry-level negotiations primarily take place at national rather than regional or local level. In 2023, more than two-thirds (71%) were signed for the whole of France, a proportion similar to earlier years. However, the situation on industry-level negotiations on pay is different; just over half (295 or 57%) of the agreements on pay were signed at national level, with the remaining 225 (43%) being agreed at regional or local level.
In the past, some of the pay agreements in place had only limited importance in determining what workers received, as delays in renegotiating them meant that some of the rates they set were below the national minimum wage. In response, successive governments have attempted to strengthen the system by encouraging smaller industry groupings to merge, so that both sides have the resources to negotiate regularly and keep the agreements up to date.
These efforts have had significant success. Among the 286 industry groupings that in 2023 covered more than 5,000 employees, 260, covering 87% of the employees, had an increase in 2023. However, with the minimum wage being uprated twice in 2023, the second increase in May left a majority of industries with at least one rate below the statutory minimum, and even by December there were still several industries where at least one rate was below the national minimum: 25% of the agreements in metalworking, 19% in building and public works and 20% in other industries.
This emphasises the importance of the national minimum wage in pay setting in France, as the report on negotiations in 2023 notes, “in many industries, the first level of the pay scales remains very often close to the amount of the minimum wage in force and is therefore exceeded at each revaluation”.
Company-level negotiations have grown in importance in recent years and the legal changes introduced in September 2017 46 marked a crucial change, ending the previous situation, where industry-level agreements had priority, except in specifically defined circumstances. Since 2017, the position has been reversed. It is now company-level agreements that have priority and can set terms and conditions that are worse for employees, except in some areas, generally covering minimum guarantees. The details are set out in Allowing local variations.
In practice, a detailed analysis of negotiations in 2022 by the ministry of labour’s research body Dares found that only a sixth (16.6%) of companies employing 10 or more workers in the private sector outside agriculture engaged in collective bargaining. 47 However, companies that had taken part in collective negotiations at least once since 2010 accounted for almost two-thirds (62.2%) of employees. This supports an earlier Dares study that showed that existence of negotiations is closely linked to the numbers employed: only 7.0% of companies with between 10 and 49 conducted negotiations, compared with 95.2% of companies with 500 or more employees. Above the legal threshold of 50 (see Subjects covered in agreements) more than half of all companies (51.4%) are covered. 48
As with industry-level agreements, there is a legal requirement to negotiate periodically on some issues at company level (see Subjects covered in agreements), although this depends in part on the size of the company and the existence (or otherwise) of a trade union representative to negotiate with. However, while there are penalties if these negotiations do not take place, it is important to stress that there is no obligation to reach an agreement, and sometimes the employer will simply listen to the unions' demands and implement a unilateral decision.
In 2023, provisional figures show that there were 84,990 agreements signed at company level, although this number can be expected to increase to perhaps 92,000 when the final figures are published. 49
The largest proportion (40.3%) covered employee savings (l’épargne salariale), a mechanism through which employees can benefit from their employer’s financial success, but which requires an agreement to take effect. Other than that, the main topics by company bargaining were pay and bonuses (21.0% of all agreements) and working time (20.6%). For more details see Subjects covered in agreements.
Extending agreements
Agreements between unions and employers at industry level are binding on the employers belonging to the employers’ associations which sign the deal. However, their importance, in terms of numbers covered, is greatly increased by the fact that the government also has power to extend the terms of an industry-level agreement to all the employers (and employees) in the industry concerned, and even to enlarge it to other similar industries or beyond its initial geographic scope.
Extension or enlargement can be requested by any of the parties to the agreement concerned, and the decision is taken by the minister, advised by a subcommittee made up of representatives of the unions and the employers. Other than requiring that the agreement meets a number of formal conditions, such as ensuring that the agreement has been signed by the appropriate bodies, there are no specific thresholds – such as covering a set proportion of employees – which need to be met, although, as a result of changes made in 2017, employers’ organisations now have a clear right to object to the extension of an agreement.
Enlargements of an agreement to new areas beyond its original geographic or industrial scope are rare. Only six enlargements were approved in 2023, all relating to the sale of fish. However, extensions, where the terms of an agreement are extended to all employers in the same industry, are very common. As a report in 2017 by the official government body DG Trésor points out, extension requests are made in respect of around 80% of the industry-level agreements and these requests are “only very rarely refused”. 50 The report also notes that extensions are generally asked for by the employers’ associations.
In 2023, as the annual report on collective bargaining shows, there were 1,043 requests to extend agreements of which 1,029 were approved. Almost two-thirds (62.5%) of the extensions approved (643) related to pay. 51
This “quasi-systematic procedure of extension” is, as the report from DG Trésor notes, linked to the very high level of collective bargaining coverage in France. A study by Dares in 2006 estimated that 97.7% of employees outside public administration (that is including state-owned companies) were covered by collective agreements in 2004, 52 and there is no reason to believe that it has fallen since then. The latest estimate from the OECD puts collective bargaining coverage in France at 98.5% in 2014. 53
Allowing local variations
The legal changes introduced in September 2017 54 enlarged the areas where local employers are allowed to deviate from the industry agreement covering their industry and agree terms and conditions that are less favourable to employees. (Company-level agreements have always and continue to be able to set more favourable terms.)
It achieves this by dividing issues for negotiation into three blocks:
- issues where the law states that industry-level agreements take precedence, in other words where company-level agreements cannot set terms which are less favourable to employees than those in the industry-level agreements;
- issues where industry-level agreements continue to take precedence, because the industry-level agreement itself has stated that this should be the case and the law permits this; and
- issues where company-level agreements take precedence, irrespective of what the industry-level agreement states.
The issues in this first block, with industry-level agreements setting binding rules, are largely those setting minimum guarantees. They include minimum salaries, job classifications, equal opportunities, the minimum length of part-time work, overtime rates, rules on renewing probation periods, health insurance, rules on temporary contracts and the number of hours required to be worked to be defined as a night-worker.
The issues in the second block, where the terms of the industry level agreement itself determine whether it has precedence, are the prevention of occupational risks, the employment of disabled workers, the arrangements for trade union representation, including their number, and supplements for dangerous or hazardous work.
The issues in the third block include everything else, although some of them are also covered by statutory regulation. Bonuses, paid holidays, most issues relating to working time, notice periods, payments for travelling time, compensation for dismissal and the initial length of the probation period, can all be agreed at company level, without reference to industry-level agreements.
Who negotiates?
Who negotiates?
Negotiations are normally conducted by the trade unions on one side and employers’ federations or individual employers on the other. However, the rules setting out precisely who has a right to negotiate and the circumstances under which agreements are valid are complex.
Legislation introduced in 2004, 2008, 2016 and 2017 produced important changes in the rules for bargaining at all levels – national, industry and company. Before these various pieces of legislation were introduced, it was sufficient to get just one representative union to sign for an agreement to be valid, but this is no longer the case.
National level
At national level, agreements can only be signed by “representative” trade unions. There are five large national union confederations, which are nationally representative: CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC and CFTC (see Trade unions). National agreements are only valid if they have been signed by a confederation or confederations with at least 30% support nationally, and if they are not opposed by other confederations that together have majority support.
However, in calculating levels of support and opposition, only the results of the five national representative confederations are included; the votes for the other confederations like UNSA and Solidaires, which failed to cross the 8.0% threshold, are ignored. This means that the current voting strength in national negotiations is as follows: CFDT (30.83%), CGT (25.76%), FO (17.29%), CFE-CGC (15.02%) and CFTC (11.10%). 55
Industry level
At industry level, the only organisations that have negotiating rights on the union side are the union industry federations which have shown that they have at least 8% of the votes cast in the elections for employee representatives in the specific industry. This means there are many industry groupings where not all confederations are representative. Figures published by the ministry of labour show that currently the CFDT and CGT have negotiating rights in more than nine out of 10 industries and FO in almost eight out of 10. However, the CFTC only has enough support to have the right to negotiate in less than half the total (see Table). The CFE-CGC, which represents more senior staff, has negotiating rights in around three-quarters of industries, but only in respect of these higher-level employees.
The ministry of labour does not publish the same figures for the two non-representative union groupings, but UNSA is estimated to have the right to negotiate in around a quarter of the industry groupings and Solidaires in around 8%. 56
Union confederation | Percentage of industries with more than 8% support |
CFDT | 92.5% |
CGT` | 91.6% |
FO | 79.2% |
CFE-CGC* | 73.2% |
CFTC | 44.7% |
* The figures for CFE-CGC only relate to the managers and senior employees it represents. | |
Source: La négociation collective en 2023: Édition 2024, Ministère du Travail et de l’Emploi
As at national level, industry-level agreements must have been signed by unions with at least 30% support in the industry and not be opposed by unions with more than 50% support in order to be valid.
The exact level of support of the unions in the industry concerned is important in deciding which agreements are signed, as some confederations are much more likely to sign than others. While the CFDT and the CGT both have negotiating rights in around 90% or industries, the CFDT has signed 89.5% of the agreements reached and the CGT only around a third (32.5%). 57 The figures are for 2023, but earlier figures are very similar.
Company level
At company level, the rules on who can bargain and which decide whether agreements are valid are more complicated and vary according to the number of employees and the presence or absence of a union representative.
The standard case is where company-level negotiations take place between the employer and the union delegates. These are individuals nominated by one or more representative trades union present in the workplace. A representative union must, among other things, have the support of 10% of the workforce, as indicated by the votes in the first round of the elections for employee representatives (see Workplace representation). Union delegates must also receive at least 10% of the votes as individuals in these elections. Unions only have the right to appoint a union delegate in companies with more than 50 employees.
If the unions signing the agreement represent more than 50% of the employees, as indicated in the most recent elections for employee representatives, the agreement (called a majority agreement) is immediately valid.
Agreements can also be valid if they are signed by unions with the support in the most recent elections of less than 50% but more than 30% of the workforce. However, these agreements (called minority agreements) need some form of endorsement by the workforce. Either one of the signatory unions can ask for a ballot of the whole workforce to be organised, or the employer can ask for a ballot, provided that none of the signatory unions object. If, within eight days, enough other union organisations also agree to sign the agreement and so take support to more than 50% of the workforce, it is then valid. If this is not the case, a ballot of the whole workforce must be organised within two months. If a majority of those voting in this ballot approve the agreement, it is then endorsed and comes into effect.
Since 2017, it has also been possible to union delegates to agree that in future the power to negotiate company-level agreements should pass from the union delegate to the elected representative body of the employees – now called a Social and Economic Committee (CSE). This is a permanent change, and, where it occurs, it produces veto powers for the CSE in some areas (see Workplace representation). However, this change is only possible on the basis of a majority agreement agreed by unions representing more than 50% of the employees.
The situation is different in companies where there are no union delegates, and here other representatives of the employees are able to negotiate and reach agreements, although the rules vary between companies with 50 or more employees and those with fewer than 50.
In companies with more than 50 employees but no union delegate, there are three possibilities, in the following order of precedence.
First, if possible, the employer negotiates with one or more of the existing elected employee representatives who have been mandated for this task by one or more of the representative unions. Agreements reached in this way must be endorsed in a ballot of the workforce and are only valid if approved by a majority of those voting.
Second, if the elected employee representatives do not wish to be mandated by a union, the employer can still negotiate with them. However, the agreement is only valid if is signed by employee representatives who together have the support of more than 50% of the workforce, as indicated in the most recent elections for employee representatives. It is also limited to the issues that have to be negotiated, such as arrangements for working time. Agreements negotiated in this way do not require a workforce ballot.
Third, if no elected representative wishes to negotiate, the employer can negotiate with a non-elected employee who has been mandated for this task by the union. Any agreement reached in these circumstances must be approved in a ballot of the workforce.
In companies with between 11 and 49 employees, there are two main options, plus an additional option for the smallest companies. In option one, the employer negotiates with existing elected employee representatives, who may or may not be mandated by the union, but who must represent a majority of the workforce, for the agreement to be valid. This option does not require a workforce vote. In option two, the employer negotiates with employees who are not elected representatives but have been mandated to negotiate by one or more of the representative unions. In this case a workforce vote in favour is required for the agreement to be valid.
Finally, in companies with fewer than 11 employees and, as an alternative to other options in companies with 11 to 20 employees the employer can reach agreement directly with all employees. This involves the employer presenting his or her proposal for an agreement to the employees at least 15 days before a consultation to decide whether or not to accept it. Two-thirds of the employees must support it before it can be agreed.
Despite this potentially highly complex procedure, the reports on collective bargaining indicate that most agreements at company level are reached with the with the union delegate or delegates in the company. 58 They signed 52.8% of the 84,990 documents setting out terms and conditions in 2023. If agreements covering employee savings (where an agreement is necessary for employees to access the full benefits) are excluded, the importance of the union delegates in company-level negotiations is even clearer. They signed 72.3% of the non-employee savings agreements (see table).
Signatories of company-level collective agreements
Signatory | All agreements | Excluding employee savings |
Union delegate(s) | 52.8% | 72.3% |
Representative mandate by the union | 9.2% | 7.0% |
Elected representative without a union mandate | 13.3% | 10.7% |
Signed with the support of two-thirds of the workforce | 23.7% | 9.9% |
Other | 1.0% | 0.2% |
Total | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Total number of agreements | 84,990 | 52,070 |
Source: La négociation collective en 2023: Édition 2024, Ministère du Travail et de l’Emploi
Industrial action
In France, the right to strike is a constitutional right, set out in the preamble to the constitution of 1946. However, this document also states that the “right to strike is exercised within the framework of the laws which regulate it”.
A strike has been defined by the courts as a “collective, concerted and total stoppage of work, with a view of presenting professional demands to the employer”. 59This means that a single worker cannot stop work and say they are on strike, unless they are the only employee, or they are following a national call for action. It must be a complete stoppage, not just a refusal to undertake certain tasks, although there are no minimum or maximum limits on the length. The “professional” demands made by the strikers can be wide-ranging. As well as covering pay and conditions, issues such as the pension system or trade union rights are also legally valid reasons for strike action. However, a purely political strike would not be lawful. There is no obligation for the strikers to be trade union members.
Other than the general rules, set out above, and other than in very exceptional circumstances (see below) there are no restrictions on the right to strike in the private sector. Employees are not required to give notice of their action and can walk out immediately. They must only inform the employer of their demands, and do not need to wait for the employer’s answer before striking. In the private sector, there is no obligation for a strike to be called by the unions.
In the public sector, strikes can only be called by representative unions, and the union (or unions) must give five days’ notice of the intention to strike. The aim is that, during this period, the two sides should negotiate and avoid the need for action.
Public sector employees’ right to strike is governed by a key court case in 1950 (known as the Dehaene judgement). 60 This concluded that it was necessary to balance the right to strike with the need of the public to access to essential public services, and, where this was not determined by legislation, it left that decision to the heads of public services. These decisions are, however, subject to challenge in the courts. 61
In practice, there are several areas, where legislation or the courts have determined that a minimum service level is required. These are public hospitals, public transport (trains, metro and buses), some local public services, such as waste collection, pre-school provision, after school care, school catering and care of the elderly, nurseries and primary schools and some air transport. The arrangements are often agreed with the unions, although the responsibility for providing minimum services lies with the employer. The government also has powers to require strikers to return to work under an emergency provision known as requisition, although this is only used very rarely.
In 2023, 2.7% companies with more than 10 employees in the private sector excluding agriculture experienced at least one stoppage in 2023. This was the highest figure since 2010 and well above the 2008-23 average of 2.0%. 62 The number of days of strike per 1,000 workers was 173 in 2023. This was also the highest figure since 2010 and significantly above the 2008-23 average which was 110. Opposition to the government’s
plans to change the pensions system was the main reason for the strikes, explaining 54% of the total compared with 46% where pay was the reason. Other reasons given were working conditions (18%), employment (6%) and working time (4%). The figures add up to more than 100% because strike action may have several causes.
Length and timing of agreements
As with who can negotiate and sign agreements there are detailed rules on when the topics covered by the agreements at industry and company level must be negotiated. These rules too were changed by legislation introduced in September 2017.
At national level, there is no specific timetable, but the law lays down much stricter rules on when issues must be negotiated at industry and company level. At both levels there is the possibility of the two sides agreeing a timetable setting out when the issues will be negotiated – subject to limits set by the law, but if a timetable is not agreed – a legal fall-back timetable comes into effect.
At industry level, it is possible for the two sides to agree a calendar which ensures that there will be negotiations on most of the topics where negotiations are obligatory (primarily pay, equality of opportunity, working conditions and training – see Subjects covered in agreements) at least every four years. The four-year limit cannot be exceeded for these issues. However, if there is no agreement on a calendar, these topics must be negotiated at least every three years, apart from pay, which must be negotiated annually.
In practice, industry-level negotiations are signed throughout the year, with the virtual exception of August. However, they are normally concentrated in the first four months of the year, although in 2023 the figures were distorted by the second increase in the minimum wage in May, which resulted in a third (32.8%) of agreement being signed in May and June. 63)
At company level, where since 2016 there has been encouragement for companies to reach agreements setting out how negotiations will be conducted – including a calendar of topics to be dealt with – it is possible for unions and employers to sign a so-called “anticipatory agreement” (accord d’anticipation). If there is such an agreement, which can run for a maximum four years, the topics on which negotiations are obligatory (pay and working time, equal opportunities and, in larger companies, staffing plans and career development – see Subjects covered in agreements) only need to be dealt with every four years. However, if there is no agreement setting out the timetable, negotiations on pay and working time and equal opportunities must take place every year and on staffing and career progression (in larger companies) every three years.
Trends in collective bargaining
In terms of coverage, as the 2023 report on collective bargaining shows, there are no signs of erosion. The mechanism of almost automatic extension by the state, which provides very high levels of coverage, continues to operate smoothly. Indeed, it has been speeded up so that the period between an agreement being reached and its terms being extended was just 90 days in 2023, down from 122 days ten years earlier.
At national level, unions and employers continue to be able to reach agreement on some issues, although the average number of these agreements, at 11 a year since 2016, is down on the 40 a year average in the period 2009 to 2015.
At industry level the number of agreements signed remains at an average of around 1,100 a year – the provisional figure for 2023 was 1,122. Industry-level bargaining has also been strengthened by a government programme, operating since 2018, to bring together industry bargaining groups covering fewer than 5,000 employees into larger groupings, making it easier to ensure that pay and conditions are up to date.
At company level, whose importance was strengthened in 2017 (see Allowing local variations) the number of negotiations has increased, up from 66,720 in 2017 to 95,520 in 2022. (The provisional figure for 2023 is 84,990 but it is certain to rise.) However, with the possibility that company level agreements can result in less favourable arrangements for employees than those set out in industry agreements, it is unclear whether this increase in activity is linked to improved pay and conditions for those covered.
Subjects covered in agreements
National level negotiations for the whole economy cover a wide range of issues, including social security and the structure of industrial relations.
Negotiations at industry level similarly cover a wide range of issues, including some where there is a requirement that negotiations take place. The areas where industry-level negotiation is obligatory are:
- pay;
- equality between women and men and measures to tackle the inequalities identified;
- working conditions, staffing and career development and exposure to occupational risks;
- disabled workers;
- occupational training;
- job classification;
- employee saving schemes; and
- arrangements for organising part-time work.
As stated above, most of these topics must be negotiated at least every four years, provided a timetable for negotiations has been agreed, and more frequently, either annually or every three years, where there is no timetable. The exceptions are job classifications and employee saving schemes, which must in all cases be negotiated every five years, and arrangements for part-time work, which must be negotiated as soon as a third of the employees in an industry are working part-time.
Unsurprising, it is often the obligatory topics together with procedural questions which dominate negotiations at this level (see Table).
Topics covered in industry-level agreements: 2023
Topic | Number of agreements |
Pay | 520 |
Conditions of the application of agreements | 335 |
Equality between men and women | 289 |
Bonus systems | 165 |
Negotiating arrangements | 112 |
Complementary pensions and health coverage | 102 |
Occupational training | 94 |
Working time | 33 |
Employment contract | 29 |
Holidays | 18 |
Job classification | 18 |
Union rights | 16 |
Employee savings | 12 |
Working conditions and health and safety | 10 |
Departure and retirement | 9 |
Total | 1,122 |
Source: La négociation collective en 2023: Édition 2024, Ministère du Travail et de l’Emploi
Each agreement may cover several subjects, which explains where the total of subjects covered adds up to more than 1,122. 64
At company level there are also issues over which there is an obligation to negotiate, although only where other conditions are also fulfilled. Where one or more union sections exist in the company, in other words, where unions are present, and where there is at least one union delegate (where the threshold is 50 employees), the employer must negotiate on two blocks of topics:
- pay, working time and the distribution of the value added in the company; and
- equality between men and women, in particular measures taken to reduce the pay gap and on the quality of working life.
In addition, in companies with more than 300 employees and in companies with at least 1,000 employees across the EU and at least 150 in France, there must also be negotiations on long-term staffing plans and career development.
Negotiations at company level are not limited to these obligatory areas. Employers and unions are also free to negotiate on other issues, other than those covered by industry-level bargaining. Unions at company level can also be involved in negotiating redundancy agreements (see Workplace representation).
In practice, as the report on collective bargaining in 2023 shows employee savings is the most frequently agreed topic, making up 40.3% of the 84,990 agreements reached in 2023. This is followed by pay and bonuses, working time and union rights and employee representation (see Table).
Topics covered in company-level agreements: 2023
Topic | Number of agreements | %age |
Employee savings | 34,230 | 40.3% |
Pay and bonuses | 17,860 | 21.0% |
Working time | 17,500 | 20.6% |
Union rights and employee representation | 10,150 | 11.9% |
Occupational equality | 5,820 | 6.8% |
Working conditions | 4,860 | 5.7% |
Complementary pensions and health coverage | 2,580 | 3.0% |
Job classification | 650 | 0.8% |
Occupational training | 530 | 0.6% |
Total | 84,990 | 100.0% |
Minimum wage
As well as setting the rules for collective bargaining, the state plays a very direct and important role in determining its outcome in terms of pay by setting a national minimum wage (SMIC). This is uprated at least annually, based on the inflation experienced by the poorest fifth of French households, plus half the increase in purchasing power of all employees. In addition, the government can, and sometimes does, increase it by more than this. In January 2024, 2.7 million employees in the private sector other than agriculture, 14.6% of the total) benefitted directly from the 1.1% increase in the minimum wage. 65
Joint employer/union body at national level
Unions and employers are represented together with representatives from civil society and social cohesion plus bodies concerned with environmental issues in the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Conseil Économique Social et Environnemental – CESE). This provides advice to government on planned legislation and can be consulted by the government and parliament on any economic, social or environmental problem. 66
Unions provide 52 of the 175 members, and, as well as the five nationally representative confederations, CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC and CFTC, CESE also includes representatives from FSU, UNSA and Solidaires (see Trade unions).
However, the CESE is not the forum in which national collective bargaining (négociation nationale interprofessionnelle) is conducted.
Employee representation at workplace level in France is provided through both the trade unions and structures directly elected by the whole of the workforce, although, where unions are present, the key figure will be the union delegate. The directly elected structures were fundamentally revised in the private sector in 2017, when three separate representative structures were merged into one, with the possibility of the tasks normally carried out by the separate union structure also being incorporated into the new body in certain circumstances.
The basic structure
Employee representation at the workplace in France is subject to detailed regulation, covering both the union structures and those for the whole of the workforce.
Trade unions present in a company or other organisation are normally able to set up trade union sections, which bring together their members at the workplace and have specific legal rights. In addition, provided they have sufficient support (see below), unions can appoint trade union delegates with specific powers in workplaces with more than 50 employees. These union delegates have a role both within the union and on behalf of all employees.
The representation of the whole of the workforce is now provided by single elected committee, which outside the public sector is called the Social and Economic Committee (Comité Social et Économique – CSE). This brought together three previously separate bodies representing employees at the workplace – the employee delegates (DP), the works council (CE) and the health and safety committee (CHSCT).
The merger of these three bodies into a new single committee was one of the changes introduced by the government of Emmanuel Macron in September 2017 67 and it became universal outside public administration from 1 January 2020.
There are, however, important differences in the role of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE), depending on the size of the workforce, with the key threshold set at 50 employees (the former threshold for setting up a works council).
In companies with 11 to 49 employees, the role of the CSE is relatively limited. It is to present the workforce’s individual and collective complaints and claims to the employer and to monitor the company’s compliance with labour regulations.
In companies with 50 or more employees, the CSE carries out these roles, but its rights go beyond this to allow the interests of the workforce to be considered when the company makes decisions (see Tasks and rights).
In companies with several separate workplaces and more than 50 employees, it is possible to reach a company-level agreement on appointing additional local representatives (représentants de proximité) in addition to the CSE. These local representatives primarily deal with employees’ concerns around health and safety and working conditions. However, all the issues relating to their functioning, including number, powers, method of appointment and time off, are fixed by a company-level agreement, not the law.
In addition, in larger companies, those with 300 or more employees, a sub-committee of the Social and Economic Committee dealing specifically with health, safety and working conditions (CSSCT) must also be formed
Although the CSE will be the employee representative body in most companies, it is also possible to set a Company Council (Conseil d’entreprise – CE). This is where the unions agree, either through a company-level or an industry-level agreement that the normal functions of the CSE will be extended to include collective bargaining at company level, a task normally carried out by the union delegate.
In addition to these representative structures, individual workers have “the right of expression” about their working conditions. The exact form in which this right is organised is left to local negotiations with the unions but might involve occasional meetings of groups of workers with their supervisors.
Employee representation at the workplace in public administration was changed in the similar way through legislation passed in 2019. 68 As in the private sector, this brought together the previously separate general committee (Comité technique – CT) and health and safety committees (CHSCT) in a single body the Social Committee (Comité social), although the names of this committee vary according to the three areas of public service in France. In central government, the new body is called the Comité social d’administration; in regional and local government, it is the Comité social territorial; and in the hospital service, it is the Comité social d'établissement. 69 The first elections for these committees were held in December 2022 and the new bodies were set up after that.
As in the private sector, there is also a specialist health and safety committee, known as the FSSCT, which must be set up in larger organisations – more than 200 employees.
The extent of workplace representation
Unions
The latest survey from Dares, the research arm of the ministry of labour, shows that 10.5% of companies with more than 10 employees had a trade union delegate in 2023. However, as union delegates are found more often in larger companies, this means that more than half (56.1%) of employees in workplaces above the 10-employee threshold are in workplaces with a trade union delegate. 70
However, the 10.5% figure is one percentage point lower than 11.5% recorded in 2017, the year before the Macron changes began to be implemented. In companies with 50 or more employees, the fall in the percentage of companies with a union delegate has been larger, from 46.3% in 2017 to 41.9% in 2023.
CSE
The figures from Dares show that more than a third (35.8%) of companies with more than 10 employees had a CSE in 2023, covering (76.7%) of employees. 71 In addition, 1.6% of companies (19.4% of employees) had local representatives (représentants de proximité) and 6.4% (48.6% of employees) had a specialist health and safety committee, only required in companies with 300 or more employees.
There is a clear link between the size of the company and the presence of elected employee representatives. Among companies with 300 or more employees 97.4% had a CSE, while this fell to 82.5% for those with between 50 and 299 and to 25.4% of those with fewer than 50 employees. CSEs are obligatory in companies with more than 10 employees, and where, despite this, these bodies do not exist, the main reason for their absence seems to be the lack of employees willing to stand.
The Dares figures show a clear fall in the proportion of companies with a CSE or equivalent body since the Macron changes. This fell from 43.1% in 2017, the last year before they began to be implemented, to 35.8% in 2023. Among companies with 50 or more employees the proportion with a CSE or equivalent fell from 88.2% in 2017 to 84.5% in 2023.
An indication of the level of employee representation at the workplace in relation to other countries is provided by the results of Eurofound’s 2019 European Company Survey. This shows that, in 2019, 54% of establishments in France with at least 10 employees had some form of official employee representation. This was well above the EU27 average of 29%. 72
As elsewhere in Europe, larger organisations are more likely to have such a structure than smaller ones. The 2019 survey shows that 96% of establishments with more than 250 employees had representation, and that in those with between 50 and 249 employees, the percentage of workplaces with representation was 86%. In smaller workplaces in France, those with between 10 and 49 employees, the survey indicates that almost half (47%) had employee representation.
The role of unions
Unions have a direct role to play in the French system of employee workplace representation, particularly through negotiations, and this is reflected through the fact that they have separate rights and duties.
However, unions also play a crucial role in the CSE, the elected employee representative body. Initially, they have the sole right to nominate candidates (see Election and term of office) and many CSE members are also union members. (A report from Dares published in 2019 showed that more than half (56.2%) of the representatives in the bodes which preceded the CSE were union members, and this percentage increased to two thirds (67.8%) in workplaces with 300 employees or more.) 73
The union delegate has a right to be a member of the CSE (see Numbers and composition) and will often play a key role.
Numbers and composition
Unions
Trade unions present in a company are able to set up trade union sections, irrespective of the number of union members or employees, and because of the structure of French trade unionism there are often several trade union sections in the same company.
However, union rights vary depending on whether or not the union is “representative within the company”. To be representative within the company a union must meet several criteria such as independence and financial transparency. However, the most important factor is whether it has the support of at least 10% of the workforce, as indicated by the votes in the first round of the elections for employee representatives (see Election and term of office).
Where a company has more than 50 employees, the unions that are representative within it, have the right to nominate a trade union delegate (DS) with a number of important rights. However, individuals who are to be trade union delegates must themselves have the support of at least 10% of the workforce. (There are exceptions to this rule in some circumstances, such as where the previous individual with this level of support has left the company.)
The number of union delegates to which each representative union (with 10% support in the company) is entitled varies with the number of employees (see Table).
umber of union delegates by size of company
Number of employees | Number of union delegates for each representative union |
50 to 999 | 1 |
1,000 to 1,999 | 2 |
2,000 to 3,999 | 3 |
4,000 to 9,999 | 4 |
More than 9,999 | 5 |
In smaller companies, those with fewer than 50 employees, representative unions can designate one of the elected members of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) as their union delegate.
Unions that are not representative within the company do not have the right to a trade union delegate, but only what is called a “representative of the trade union section” (an RSS) who has significantly fewer powers and rights.
CSE
Elected representation of all employees is now provided through the Social and Economic Committee (CSE). This must be set up in all private sector companies with at least 11 employees, although its rights and duties vary with the number of employees, with two main additional thresholds, at 50 employees and 300. The Company Council (Conseil d’entreprise – CE), which can also exist, is a CSE with additional powers (see Tasks and rights).
The rules for counting employees are the same for all the thresholds. Permanent full-time workers and home workers are counted in full. Temporary workers and agency workers, provided they have been working for at least a year in the company, are counted pro-rata to the length of time they have worked in the previous 12 months. However, they are not included if they are replacing a permanent staff member who is absent or whose contract has been suspended, for example, because of absence on maternity or adoption leave. Part-time workers are counted pro-rata in line with their contracted hours as a proportion of standard hours of full-time staff. Some specific categories of employees, such as apprentices, are excluded from the calculation.
The CSE is normally set up at company level, but in cases where the company has at least 50 employees and at least two different workplaces, separate Social and Economic Committees should be set up at both the company and the workplaces. The arrangements must be agreed in a company-level agreement, with the support of unions representing majority of the workforce. Where there is no union delegate, the arrangements for setting up various CSE committees can be agreed with the majority of the employee members of the committee. Where no agreement can be reached, the employer can take a unilateral decision on the arrangements. However, this decision can be contested by the unions or the employee representatives, depending on the form the negotiations have taken, initially with the regional government office and ultimately in the courts.
The CSE is a joint body consisting of the employer, who chairs it and who may be accompanied by up to three colleagues, and elected representatives of the employees. The number of employee representatives is set out precisely in the legislation, starting with a single representative in companies with between 11 and 24 employees, rising in stages to 35 in a company with 10,000 employees (see Table). 74 For example a company with 500 employees will have 13 employee representatives on the CSE and one with 1,000 will have 17. There are the same number of replacement employee representatives (suppléants) as full employee representatives (titulaires). These replacement members stand in for full members if they are unable to participate.
Size of the CSE
Number of employees | Number of employee representatives |
11 to 24 | 1 |
25 to 49 | 2 |
50 to 74 | 4 |
75 to 99 | 5 |
100 to 124 | 6 |
125 to 149 | 7 |
150 to 174 | 8 |
175 to 199 | 9 |
200 to 249 | 10 |
250 to 299 | 11 |
300 to 399 | 12 |
400 to 999 | 1 more for each additional 100 employees |
1,000 to 2,499 | 1 more for each additional 250 employees |
2,500 to 3,999 | 1 more for each additional 500 employees |
4,000 to 9,999 | Additional members although steps are uneven |
10,000 | 35 |
As well as the employee representatives elected by the workforce, in companies with fewer than 300 employees, the trade union delegate (DS), who can only be appointed in companies with 50 or more employees, is also entitled to be a member of the CSE. In companies with 300 or more employees, each representative trade union organisation (in other words each union whose candidates have the support of at least 10% of those voting in the election of employee representatives) can send a representative to the CSE.
As well as the CSE, the law now allows that, where a company has at least 50 employees and at least two different workplaces, the agreement covering the operation of the separate Social and Economic Committees at company and workplace level can also provide for the appointment of local representatives (représentants de proximité). The number is set in the agreement and the individuals concerned may be members of the CSE, although this is not necessary.
In the public sector, the social committee consists of the head of the organisation concerned, who chairs it, plus the manager responsible for human resources and employee representatives. The standard number of employee representatives in the social committee in central government ranges from five to 10 as set out line in the Table. 75 There are the same number of replacement employee representatives (suppléants) as full employee representatives (titulaires). These replacement members stand in for full members if they are unable to participate.
Size of the social committee in the public sector
Number of employees | Number of employee representatives |
Up to 200 with a specialist health and safety committee | 5 |
Up to 200 without a specialist health and safety committee | 6 |
201 to 500 | 7 |
501 to 700 | 8 |
More than 700 | 10 |
The operation of the unions and the CSE
Unions
A union section can be set up with just two union members, and no specific formality is required to set it up. There is no obligation to inform the employer of its existence, but the public authorities recommends that this should be done in writing. The union delegate has rights to time-off and other resources and can organise a monthly meeting of union members within the company. 76
CSE
In companies with between 11 and 49 employees, the employer should meet all the employee representatives on the CSE once a month and they can also ask for other meetings if matters are urgent. In larger companies, those with 50 employee or more, the frequency of meetings of the CSE is fixed in a company-level agreement, but, as a minimum, the CSE must meet once every two months in smaller companies (those with between 50 and 299 employees), and once a month in companies with at least 300 employees. At least four of these meetings should deal with questions of health and safety, and there should also be a meeting after any accident or serious incident. External experts can attend meetings to provide support on issues relating to health and safety and working conditions.
In companies with more than 300 employees, a health, safety and working conditions committee (commission santé, sécurité et conditions de travail – CSSCT) must be set up to take on most of the health and safety responsibilities of the CSE. It must also be established in smaller companies if they operate in a particularly dangerous industry, or if the labour inspectorate decides that this is necessary.
The CSE should also choose one of its members to take responsibility for action against sexual harassment and sexist acts.
Other than the health, safety and working conditions committee (CSSCT), a company-level agreement in companies with more than 50 employees, can provide for the setting up of other sub-committees of the CSE. However, there are a number which are obligatory in larger companies. In companies employing 300 or more there must be:
- a training committee;
- a housing committee – to help employees gain access to housing; and
- an equality committee.
In addition, in companies with 1,000 employees or more, an economic committee must be set up.
Finally, reflecting the size of the budget that some committees manage (see Time-off and other resources), a markets committee must be established, in companies with at least 50 employees and where the committee has resources of at least €3.1 million a year and assets worth €1.55 million. The markets committee evaluates suppliers with the aim of making the process more transparent.
In companies with at least 50 employees, the CSE chooses a secretary and a treasurer from among the employee representatives and the secretary works with the chair (the employer) in drawing up the agenda.
In the public sector there are differences between the three public services in terms of the operational rules, but in central government the social committee must meet at least twice a year. 77
Other statutory representative structures
Below the 11-employee threshold for the setting up of a CSE, legislation on social dialogue and employment, passed in August 2015, provides for indirect employee representation covering very small companies for the first time. Companies with fewer than 11 employees are covered by regional bodies of made up of equal numbers of employer and union representatives, with the members drawn from these very small companies.
Tasks and rights
Unions
The main task of the trade union section is to defend the interests of its members and to promote the union within the workplace. Its legal rights include:
- collecting trade union subscriptions during works time;
- access to notice boards;
- distributing trade union leaflets; and
- organising meetings.
These rights can be improved through local agreements. Where the union is representative within the company (the key point is that it should have the support of 10% of the workforce – see Numbers and composition) and there are 50 or more employees, it can appoint a union delegate (DS). Where it is not representative it can appoint a representative of the trade union section (RSS).
The trade union delegate (DS) has two main roles: to represent the union, both to the workers and to the employer, for example through distributing material and collecting contributions; and to defend the professional and economic interests of the workforce as a whole.
Unlike the employee representatives on the CSE, who are concerned to see that the existing rules and agreements are applied properly, the role of the trade union delegate is to seek to improve the existing arrangements.
One way of doing this is through negotiation, and there are several topics where the employer has a duty to negotiate if a trade union delegate is present in the company (see Collective bargaining).
The trade union delegate also has a right to attend meetings of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE).
The representative of the trade union section (RSS) has a much more limited role. Like the union delegate, he or she can distribute material and collect union subscriptions, but unlike the trade union delegate (DS), the RSS cannot undertake collective negotiations.
CSE
As already stated, the tasks and rights of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) vary according to the size of the company.
In companies with 11 to 49 employees, the role of the CSE is to present to the employer individual and collective complaints regarding pay, the application of the labour code and other regulations, as well as the implementation of collective agreements. It also has a role in promoting the improvement of employees’ health and safety and working conditions, including the investigation of accidents and occupational diseases. If it wishes, the CSE can refer its concerns relating to the implementation of legal regulations, health and safety and other issues such as discrimination or sexual harassment to the labour inspectorate. It also has a right to warn (droit d’alerte) in cases where rights are being infringed or where there is a serious and imminent danger.
In addition, even in companies with fewer than 50 employees, the CSE has access to the register of employees, which includes details of qualifications and type of contract, as well as personal details like name and date of birth, and to documents giving details of actual hours worked.
In companies with 50 or more employees the role of the CSE is, in broad terms to ensure that the interests of the workers are taken into account in company decisions relating to the economic and financial management of the company, work organisation, occupational training and production techniques. This is primarily achieved through its information and consultation rights. The CSE also has specific responsibilities in relation to health and safety, and it runs the company’s social facilities like canteens. In addition, as noted in the section on Collective bargaining, it can negotiate collective agreements in certain circumstances. Where it takes full responsibility for all company-level negotiations, see below, its name changes to Company Council (Conseil d’entreprise – CE) and it gains new veto rights.
Looking first at information and consultation, there are some issues, like the company’s finances, where the CSE must be informed and consulted on a regular basis, as well as other issues where the CSE’s information and consultation rights relate to specific company actions, like the introduction of new technologies, or are only triggered by specific events, like redundancies. In addition, the CSE has access to a specially constructed database of information on the company, and to a number of documents relating to employment and working time.
There are now three broad areas over which the CSE must be informed and consulted on a regular basis. (The system was simplified in 2015, when 17 separate topics for information and consultation were combined into three key areas.) These are:
- the strategic direction of the company;
- the company’s economic and financial situation; and
- the company’s social policy as well as working conditions and employment.
The frequency of this consultation can be decided in a company-level collective agreement, signed with the majority unions or a majority of the CSE if there is no union delegate, although the agreement cannot extend the period beyond three years. However, if there is no agreement consultation on these three issues must take place once every year. The information necessary for this regular consultation is in the company database (see below).
Consultation on the strategic direction of the company and its economic and financial situation should take place at company level, but, where there are several workplaces in the company, consultation on social policy, working conditions and employment should take place both at company level and workplace level, if these workplaces are likely to be affected.
The CSE is helped in its response to the employer’s proposals as well as more generally in its work through its access to a database of economic and social information about the company (BDES).
Issues around the database’s content, architecture, rights of access and support can be settled through a company-level agreement or, in companies with fewer than 300 employees an industry-level agreement. However, if there is no agreement, the law sets out a detailed list of topics which must be included in the database. These cover the company’s:
- human capital, with details on the number and type of employees, including their qualifications, type of contact, hours, training and working conditions;
- tangible and intangible investments, including research and development spending and plans to change production methods;
- record on equality between women and men at work, including actions taken by the company;
- financing, debts and taxes;
- pay for employees and managers;
- social and cultural activities;
- financial performance, including turnover and profits; and
- partnerships, disposals, acquisitions and mergers.
Much more detail is required for companies with 300 or more employees than for those with between 50 and 299. The database should cover the current year and the two previous years, as well as the prospects for the three years to come. The database must be updated regularly and all employee members of the CSE as well as trade union delegates have access to it, although they are may not reveal confidential information.
In addition, as in smaller companies, the CSE in companies with 50 or more employees has access to the register of employees and to documents giving details of actual hours worked.
As well as the regular consultation on the three broad areas listed above, the CSE must also be consulted on:
- measures likely to affect the size or structure of the workforce;
- changes in the company’s economic or legal structure;
- working conditions, particularly hours of work and training;
- the introduction of new technologies and major development modifying health and safety or working conditions; and
- measures to allow the employment of disabled workers.
In addition, there are number of particular circumstances mentioned in the legislation where consultation is required, although there is some overlap with the consultation obligations of the company already listed. These specific circumstances are:
- the introduction of mechanisms for the monitoring or surveillance of employees;
- restructuring and reducing the number of employees;
- collective redundancies for economic reasons;
- any mergers;
- any proposals to take over other companies; and
- where the company may be liquidated or put into administration.
The timetable for consultation can be agreed locally, although it must provide
“sufficient” time, for the CSE to consider the issue and present its view. However, if there is no agreement, apart from areas where the law lays down a specific timetable, the CSE normally has a month from the date on which the employer presents its plans to give an opinion. This can be extended to two or even three months if external experts are involved. It is important to remember that the right of the CSE to respond to the employer’s plans and potentially to present its own alternative proposals does not guarantee that they will be changed. The process of consultation is normally procedurally very precise and formal, and management is obliged to listen to the views of the employee representatives, but it may continue with its plans regardless.
As well as being informed and consulted, there are other areas where the CSE, in companies with 50 employees or more, should take action. These are:
- analysing work hazards (for more details on the CSE’s health and safety responsibilities see Health and safety representation);
- contributing to improving women’s access to jobs and resolving the problems mothers may face, as well as making the adjustments necessary to allow disabled employees to work; and
- supporting actions and initiatives combatting harassment, including sexual harassment, and sexist conduct.
The CSE in companies with 50 or more employees also has a right to warn (droit d’alerte) in a number of different circumstances. These are:
- where the CSE becomes aware of worrying information on the economic situation of the company;
- where the company is making excessive use of precarious contracts;
- where individual rights are being infringed, such as through bullying and harassment; and
- where there is a serious and imminent danger to employees.
In all these cases the employer is either required to provide an explanation at the next meeting of the CSE and/or the CSE can inform the relevant authorities.
The CSE also runs the social and cultural activities of the company such as the operation of canteens, holiday homes for employees, company libraries and sports and social clubs, where these exist. For this, the CSE has funds, provided by the employer, which in larger companies can be substantial.
As noted in the section on collective bargaining, the CSE can also negotiate company-level agreements in certain circumstances, generally when there are no trade union delegates. However, it is possible for the CSE to conduct negotiations when there are trade union delegates in the company, but for this to happen, the union delegates themselves must agree with the company that the CSE will take over this role.
To be valid, a company-level agreement to this effect must be signed by unions with majority support in the workplace, as shown in the most recent elections for employee representatives, and it must be indefinite. This agreement sets out the arrangements for company-level negotiation, as well as the amount of paid time off for CSE members and the arrangements for the payment of travel expenses. However, in addition the agreement defines a list of topics subject to the veto of the CSE. These are issues where the employer cannot act without the CSE giving its approval in the consultation process, and they must include training. It is for the agreement to determine which other topics, if any, should also be subject to a similar veto, although the legislation suggests that gender equality could be one of them.
Where this happens, the CSE becomes a Company Council (Conseil d’entreprise – CE) and the union delegates, although they continue to exist, lose their right to conduct company-level collective bargaining.
It is also possible to set up a company committee (CE) where there are no trade union delegates. However, this can only be done by an industry-level agreement extended by the government to all the employers in the industry concerned.
Election and term of office
Unions
The trade union delegate (DS) is not elected by the union members at the company (the union section) but is appointed by the union, either at local, departmental or national level. However, as already noted, the individual appointed must already have been a candidate for the CSE and must have received at least 10% of the votes cast in the first round of the elections. Only unions which are representative within the company have the right to appoint a union delegate. Unions that are not representative have the right to appoint a representative of the trade union section (RSS). In both cases the employer must be informed which individual the union has chosen.
The term of office of the union delegate ends when the next round of CSE elections is held, although an individual can be reappointed, provided they and their union again have the necessary level of support (10%) in these elections. The term of office of representatives of the trade union sections (RSS) which are not representative in the company also ends with the next round of CSE elections and, if the union they represent continues to have the support of less than 10% of the workforce, the individuals concerned cannot take up the position again until six months before the next CSE elections. If the union crosses the 10% threshold it becomes representative in the company and the former representative of the trade union section becomes a union delegate with full rights.
CSE
Employee members of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) are elected by the whole workforce, and the procedure gives an important role to the unions. It is, however, the employer who is responsible for initiating the process, although the union can step in if the employer fails to act.
In the first round of elections, only unions can put forward lists of candidates and, in larger companies, unions belonging to several confederations will present lists of candidates for both the full members and their replacements. The unions which can nominate candidates are those which already have a presence in the company, both the locally representative unions (with at least 10% support in previous company elections) and any unions with a union section in the company. The unions belonging to the five nationally representative union confederations can also put forward candidates.
If these union-nominated candidates together get the votes of at least half of those eligible to vote, then the election result stands, and the seats are allocated on a proportional basis between the unions. But if half or more of the possible voters fail to vote for the candidates put forward by the unions, then there is a second round within 15 days where nominations are open to all, including those who are not trade union members.
Depending on size, the whole workforce either votes together or in two or more separate groups, known as “colleges”, representing different grades of worker. The division of the workers and the seats in the colleges should be agreed with the unions. All employees in the company aged 16 and above have the right to vote, provided they have at least three months’ service in the company and are not subject to some legal restriction on their civic rights. Agency workers can also vote in the companies in which they are working, although they must have been there for at least a year.
Candidates must be 18 and must have worked in the company for at least a year. Close relatives of the employer (such as spouse, partner, parents, children, brother or sister) cannot stand. Part-time workers, working in more than one company, can only be elected in one of them. Agency workers cannot stand as candidates in the companies in which they are working.
The lists of candidates being proposed, both full members and their replacements, should reflect gender balance of the employees represented. This is not just in the company as a whole but in the specific college in which the candidates are standing. Men and women alternate on the lists being proposed to ensure that those at the bottom of the lists, who are less likely to be elected, are not all one sex. If the lists fail to reflect the gender balance, the issue can be taken to a judge, who can require that the lists are changed, before the election, or, after the election, that it is rerun.
Figures published in 2024 indicate that, in the CSE elections in in the electoral cycle 2017 to 2020, 44.5% of the candidates and 45.3% of those elected were women. Both figures are slightly above the proportion of women in the workforce in these companies (44.0%). The figures are also higher than the equivalent percentages for the previous electoral cycle from 2013 to 2016, when women made up 40.2% of the candidates and 41.2% of those elected. 78
CSE members are normally elected for four years, but collective agreements at either industry or company level can provide for a shorter period – down to two years. Since 2017, there has been a limit on the total length of time individuals can hold office. Candidates can only be elected three times – a maximum of 12 years – other than in companies with fewer than 50 employees, or in companies with between 50 and 300, where this has been agreed before the election. However, this limit may be removed as, in a national agreement signed in November 2024, both employers and unions called for the government to introduce legislation to scrap the three-term limit.
In the three public services, members of the social committee are elected on a for a period of four years.
Protection against dismissal
All employee representatives, whether trade union (union delegates and representatives of trade union section) or part of the CSE structure, benefit from the same specific protection against dismissal. The only difference is that while trade union delegates continue to benefit from this for 12 months after ceasing to hold the position, the protection for CSE members only lasts for six months.
As in any other dismissal, an employee representative must be invited to an interview with the employer before dismissal. However, unlike other dismissals, the he or she must be given the reasons for the dismissal in advance. After the interview, in organisations with at least 50 employees, the employer must consult the whole CSE and present the reasons for the dismissal. The CSE then discusses the issue, and its members vote in a secret ballot whether to accept the dismissal. In practice, they will almost always refuse. (A court case on 29 December 2021 concluded that consultation with the CSE was not necessary in organisations with between 11 and 49 employees.) 79 Minutes of the CSE’s discussions are sent to the local labour inspector.
Irrespective of whether the CSE has been consulted, the employer must apply to the local labour inspector, if they wish to proceed with the dismissal of an employee representative, and this application must be made within 15 days of the CSE’s decision, and it must include the reasons for the dismissal.
The labour inspector, who is the only person who can authorise the dismissal of an employee representative, will interview the individual concerned, and will make the decision as to whether the dismissal will be permitted, based on the following factors: whether the correct procedure has been followed; whether the dismissal, based on the facts presented by the employer, is justifiable both in cases of dismissal for personal reasons or for economic reasons; and, if there is only one employee representative in the workplace, whether it is reasonable to approve their dismissal.
The labour inspector must, other than in exceptional circumstances, announce their decision in between eight and 15 days, and the employer conveys this decision to the employee concerned.
Both sides have a right to appeal, either to the ministry of labour or to the administrative courts.
There are similar arrangements when an employee representative is to be transferred.
The permission of the labour inspector is also required when the employment of an employee representative is terminated based on mutual agreement between the employee and the employer (rupture conventionnelle). The involvement of the labour inspector in this way is intended to ensure that the agreement is truly mutual and that the representative is not being forced into it.
It is not just current representatives – both full and replacement in the case of the CSE – who are protected in this way. This protection (both in cases of dismissal and a mutual termination of employment) extends to CSE candidates, and employees who ask their employer to organise the elections. Unsuccessful candidates retain this protection for six months after the announcement of the election results.
There is also the same level of protection for other employee representatives holding other positions in the French representational structure, such as members of the health, safety and working conditions committee (CSSCT), required in companies with more than 300 employees, or the local representatives (représentants de proximité) who can exist where the CSE covers more than a single workplace.
CSE members also retain the protection for six months after their period of office ends, and for trade union delegates protection last for 12 months after ceasing to hold office.
Despite these protections, figures from Dares show that some protected individuals are dismissed each year. In the period 2008-10, 17% of all workplaces with 50 employees or more requested that at least one protected employee be dismissed and, on average, these demands were made in respect of 1.7% of all protected employees each year. Of these proposed dismissals, just over three-quarters (76.9%) were authorised by the labour inspector. 80
Time-off and other resources
Unions
Individual members of trade union sections have no time-off rights, but where the union is representative within the company – the key condition is that it has the support of 10% of the employees – it has the right to 12 paid hours per year to prepare for negotiations if the company employs 500 or more and 18 hours per year if it employs 1,000 or more.
Trade union delegates (DS) have rights to paid time-off. The amount varies with the size of the plant or company: 50 to 150 employees – 12 hours a month; 151 to 499 employees – 18 hours a month; 500 employees or more – 24 hours a month. In companies with 2,000 or more employees, unions which are representative within the company can designate a central union delegate (DSC). He or she has the right to 24 hours paid hours’ time off a month, irrespective of the size of the plant in which he or she is employed. Trade union delegates, including central union delegates, are also able to use their time off outside the company, for example in industry-level negotiations and meetings. They have a right to meet employees during working time, provided this does not cause significant harm, and to leave the company in the course of their activities.
The representatives of the union section (RSS), from unions that are not representative within the company, have a right to four hours paid time-off a month if the company has 50 or more employees.
As well as time off, each union section – whether representative within the company or not – has the right:
- to a noticeboard;
- to organise meetings – including with an external speaker – on work premises but outside working time;
- to hand out material within the premises at the start and end of work; and
- to put material on the company’s intranet.
In addition, in workplaces with 250 employees or more, the employer must provide a single room for all the trade union sections and, from 1,000 employees, each union that is representative within the company has the right to its own room.
CSE
CSE members also have right to paid time off to carry out their duties, which can be agreed with the employer. However, where there is no agreement each member of the CSE has the right to the number of hours set out in the Table. This starts at 10 hours a month in the smallest companies where a CSE must be set up (11 to 49 employees) and rises to 34 hours a month in the largest companies (9,750 and above).
Time off for CSE members
Number of employees | Time off hours per CSE member per month |
11 to 49 | 10 |
50 to 74 | 18 |
75 to 99 | 19 |
100 to 199 | 21 |
200 to 499 | 22 |
500 to 1,499 | 24 |
1,500 to 3,499 | 26 |
3,500 to 3,999 | 27 |
4,000 to 4,499 | 28 |
5,000 to 6,749 | 29 |
6,750 to 7,499 | 30 |
7,500 to 7,749 | 31 |
7,750 to 9,749 | 32 |
9,750 onwards | 34 |
Time spent in meetings of the committee is not counted against the time off allowance, provided it is less than a set threshold, fixed at 30 hours per year in companies with 300 to 1,000 employees and 60 hours a year for those with 1,000 and above.
One important aspect of all these time off rights is that they can be combined. For example, in a company with 300 employees, an individual who is both a CSE member and a trade union delegate will get both 22 hours a month as a CSE member and 18 hours a month as a trade union delegate. The hours can also be combined and redistributed between the CSE delegates, allowing some members to have more time off and some less than the allocation set out in the table, although this is subject to the limit that the amount of extra time off provided by other CSE members cannot exceed 50% of the initial allocation. CSE can also average their hours over 12 months, spending more time in some months than in others, provided the annual total does not exceed their monthly hours multiplied by 12, although again with a 50% limit on the amount that can be transferred between months.
As well as time off for its members, the CSE has access other resources, although these vary between larger and smaller companies.
In companies with fewer than 50 employees, the CSE has the use of a room to allow it to fulfil its functions, primarily as a place to meet. It can also put up notices on the trade union notice boards and at the entrances to the workplace.
In companies with 50 or more employees, the CSE has the use of a room together with the equipment and material necessary for it to function effectively – all provided free by the employer. This room can be used both for internal meetings and to invite external guests.
In addition, in companies with 50 or more employees, the employer must also provide the CSE with a budget of 0.2% of the total wage bill for its operations. This goes up to 0.22% in companies with at least 2,000 employees. This budget is in addition to any sums provided by the employer to run social and cultural activities in the company, although not where the employer is already contributing 0.22% of the wage bill.
The CSE can use this budget to employ its own staff, if it wishes, although it may have to pay some of the cost of the use of external experts – see below. It can also divert up to 10% of its surplus funds into additional cultural and social activities.
Another important right, in companies with 50 or more employees, is the right to use experts, either entirely or largely paid for by the employer. Financial experts can be brought in to look at each of the following three areas for regular consultation:
- the strategic direction of the company;
- the company’s economic and financial situation; and
- the company’s social policy as well as working conditions and employment.
The frequency of the use of experts is agreed at company level, either, in the first instance with the unions, or with the CSE itself.
In addition, it is possible for the CSE to call in a financial expert in the following specific situations:
- when it is being consulted over restructuring;,
- large scale redundancies for economic reasons (at least 10 in 30 days);
- takeovers; and
- when it has used its right to warn on economic issues.
The CSE can also ask for the help of an “accredited expert” in relation to:
- serious risks to health or occupational illness;
- the introduction of new technology or major changes to health and safety; and
- the preparation of negotiations on gender equality at work (where there are at least 300 employees).
It can also ask a financial expert to produce information helpful to unions preparing negotiations on the effective working of the company, and in developing or safeguarding employment.
In most of these cases the cost of the expertise is fully borne by the employer. The main exceptions, where the CSE pays 20% of the cost of this expertise and the employer 80% are the use of an expert for the regular consultation on the strategic direction of the company, plus specific consultations on:
- the introduction of new technologies or major health and safety changes;
- restructuring; and
- the use of the right to warn.
The experts have the right to see the documents they need to carry out their work, but they must keep information confidential.
These rights are not always taken up, but their existence has resulted in the growth of national organisations of experts linked to the main trade union confederations.
Training resources
Unions
Trade union representatives have access to time off for training because, under the French Labour Code, all employees (irrespective of their trade union membership) have a right to time off each year to participate in economic, social, environmental and trade union training (Congé de formation économique, sociale, environnementale et syndicale – CFESES). The purpose of the training is to allow employees, irrespective of their length of service, to prepare to take up trade union responsibilities, although it is open to all employees. 81
Time off is limited to 12 days per employee per year, which must be taken in blocks of at least half a day at a time, and the period is extended to up to 18 days for individuals who are running economic, social, environmental and trade union training courses and sessions.
However, there are a series of limits on how this time off can be taken, set out in separate ordinance. 82
First, the ordinance limits on the total amount of time that can be taken for this training each year, linked to the size of the workforce (see Table).
Limits on the amount of time off for economic, social, environmental and union training
Number of employees | Total number of days’ leave per year |
1 to 24 | 12 days (18 for trainers and those taking up union responsibilities |
25 to 499 | 12 days for every 25 workers or part thereof |
500 to 999 | 12 days for every 50 workers or part thereof |
1,000 to 4,999 | 12 days for every 100 workers or part thereof |
More than 4,999 | 12 days for every 200 additional workers or part thereof |
Second, there are limits on the number of employees who can participate in this training simultaneously. In companies with fewer than 25 employees, only one employee at a time can take up this training; in companies with 25 to 99 employees only two employees can undertake this training at the same time; and companies with 100 or more employees only 2% of the workforce can be absent on this training at the same time.
Finally, there are limits on the proportion of this training that can be taken by trainers and those called on to take up union positions. Their training cannot exceed half the number of days of economic, social and trade union training undertaken by the company’s employees during the year.
This means that, for example, in a company with 150 employees only six people could benefit from 12 days’ training in a year. As trainers and those called on to take up union positions can only account for half of this at most, only three individuals in this position could benefit from CFESES training a year.
The CFESES training must be provided either by a nationally representative union or a body approved by the ministry of labour. Since 1 January 2018, the employee has been paid in full by the employer during this training. Previously there was a possibility that the union could be asked to reimburse the cost. The legislation does not state that the cost of this training should be borne by the employer. However, in practice, it may form part of the CSE’s own budget or be included in the employer’s overall training plan.
Requests for training must be made at least 30 days before the start of the training and the employer must reply within 8 days. The request can be refused if the employer considers, and the CSE agrees, that the employee’s absence would have damaging consequences.
CSE
Members of the CSE have the right to five days’ paid time off for training on their responsibilities in the areas of health, safety and working conditions in their first four-year period of office. This falls to three days in subsequent periods of office (five for members of the specialised health, safety and working conditions committee (Commission Santé, Sécurité et Conditions de Travail – CSSCT), a sub-committee of the CSE which is obligatory in companies with at least 300 employees, as well as in smaller companies facing higher than average risks.
This training on health, safety and working conditions is paid for by the employer, as are travelling costs and meals and accommodation, up to set limits. This training should be provided once the individual has been elected, and it should have both theoretical and practical elements which take account of the particular circumstances of the industry concerned.
The employer must be informed at least 30 days in advance of the wish to participate in this training, and, although the employer can initially deny the request for leave if it will have damaging consequences for the company, it cannot be postponed for more than six months.
In addition, in companies with 50 or more employees, members of the CSE in their first period of office have the right to five days of economics training, which also consider the environmental impact of companies’ activities. This period is deducted from the 12 days’ time off employees have for economic, social and trade union training to which all employees are entitled – see above. In contrast to the health and safety training, while the time off for this training is paid by the employer, the economics training itself is paid from the budget of the CSE.
Figures from Dares show that at least one member of the CSE received training on economic or health and safety issues in just over a quarter (26.5%) of companies with CSEs in 2023. Training was much more common in larger companies (300 employees or more), where 54.0% reported training for at least one CSE member, than in smaller one (10 to 49 employees) where only 17.1% reported this. 83
Representation at group level
Unions
In companies with several plants and 2,000 or more employees, unions which are representative within the company can designate a central union delegate (DSC) who has the right to 24 hours paid hours’ time off a month.
CSE
In cases where a company has at least 50 employees and has more than one plant, there should be both a CSE at plant level and a central CSE for the company. A company-level agreement, signed by the majority unions or, if there is no union delegate, an agreement with a majority of the CSE determines the divisions between the plant-level and company-level CSE. (If no agreement is possible, the employer can take this decision, but this is open to challenge at the regional offices of the ministry of labour.)
Where there are several companies within a single group, a group committee (comité du groupe) must be established covering all the subsidiaries and other companies controlled by the group. It must meet at least once a year and has primarily information rights. It must be informed about the activity, financial situation and employment of the entire group and it is provided with the consolidated accounts of the group as well as the forecasts. To help the committee understand the accounts, it can appoint a financial expert to explain them and identify trends and concerns, with the cost being borne by the group.
The group committee consists of the head of dominant company in the group, plus two assistants, and representatives of the employees in group companies. The representatives’ seats are allocated to the unions based on their support in the previous elections and the unions choose the individuals from their members who have been elected to the CSEs in the companies within the group.
Legislation passed in 2013 greatly extended the range of companies covered by the obligation to have employee representatives at board level, and this was widened again in 2015 and 2019. As well as state-owned companies, which were previously covered, large private companies must in future also have at least one employee representative at board level. This is in addition to representatives of employees holding shares and employee representatives who can be present at board meetings but are not board members.
The extent of board-level employee representation
Employee representatives at board level representing all employees were until 2013 generally only present in state-owned and privatised companies. However, the law on employment security, adopted in June 2013, 84 substantially extended this representation, and legislation on social dialogue and employment, enacted in August 2015, 85 and the so-called Pacte legislation, adopted in 2019, 86 both widened the scope further
As a result, employee representation at board level is obligatory in larger share-based companies (Société anonyme (SA) with 1,000 or more employees in France or 5,000 or more worldwide (France and other countries). (Before 2015, the thresholds were 5,000 and 10,000 respectively.) There must be one employee representative, where there are up to eight board members, and two where there are more than eight. (This threshold was reduced from the previous figure of 12 in the 2019 Pacte legislation.) This applies whether the company has a single board (conseil d’administration) or a two-tier board system (less common,) in which case the employee representative or representatives become members of the supervisory board (conseil de surveillance).
In state-owned companies with fewer than 200 employees, up to a third of the seats on the board (with a minimum of two) are reserved for employee representatives. In those companies with more than 200 employees, employee representatives account for one third of the board. The situation is different in the subsidiaries of state-owned companies, which have no employee board seats if they employ fewer than 200, three seats if they employ between 200 and 1,000, and a third of the board if they employ more than 1,000.
Other companies can also choose voluntarily to have employee representatives on the board, although this is rare. The number of employee representatives in these companies is limited to a maximum of four (five in the case of listed companies) and the number also cannot exceed one third of the total of board members.
Employee representatives can also be present as board members representing employee shareholders. At least one member representing employee shareholders is mandatory where employee shareholders have at least 3% of the shares.
Finally, the law provides for either two or four representatives of the CSE (depending on the number of managers employed) to attend board meetings (or meetings of the supervisory board where this exists). Where there are already board members representing employees, only one works council representative has the right to attend. These works council representatives are not board members – for example, they cannot vote. However, they can raise issues and have the right to have their points answered. They also have the right to receive the same information as other board members. 87
The introduction of the obligation to have employee representation at board level led to a clear increase in their number. Figures produced by the corporate governance monitoring group Ethics & Boards and IFA (Institut Français des Administrateurs), a body representing board members, show that the proportion of board seats held by employee representatives in the SBF 120 group of key French companies more than doubled between 2015 and 2023, increasing from 5.1% to 11.6%. 88
These figures do not include representatives of employee shareholders, whose proportion of board seats remained constant at around 2% over the period.
By 2021, there were on average 2.4 employee members on the boards of each on the SBF 120 companies, typically two straightforward employee representatives, with an additional employee shareholder representative in around a third of the companies. 89
Nomination and election of employee representatives
The mechanism for choosing the employee representatives is decided by an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting, after taking advice from existing bodies representing the employees, the group committee, the central Social and Economic Committee (CSE) or the company CSE, as appropriate.
The meeting can choose between four options:
- elections, either direct or indirect, with nominations made by the unions;
- appointment by the existing bodies representing the employees – the group committee, central CSE or CSE;
- appointment by the union with the largest share of the vote in the CSE elections (the two unions with the highest votes, if two employee representatives are to be chosen); or
- a combination of one of the three options set out above plus an appointment by the European Works Council or, in a European Company, the SE representative body. (This option is only available if at least two employee representatives are being selected.)
Where board-level employee representatives are chosen through elections, the list of candidates must contain an equal number of male and female candidates. Where two are appointed by the group committee, central CSE or CSE, one must be a man and one a woman. The individuals must have at least two years’ service in one of the companies covered by the board.
In all cases in state-owned companies employee representatives at board level are elected by the employees on the basis of nominations made by representative unions or at least 10% of the members of the CSEs in the company.
One important aspect of the French system of board-level representation is that the position of an employee representative at board level cannot be combined with any other elected position, such as a member of the CSE or a trade union delegate. This applies in all cases (private companies with more than 1,000/5,000 employees, state-owned companies and companies voluntarily choosing to have employee representatives on the board).
The period of office of an employee representative at board level is set by the statutes of the company. However, it cannot exceed six years.
The rights of employee representatives
Board-level employee representatives have the same rights and duties as other board members, whether on a supervisory or on the single board. However, employee board members in publicly owned companies carry out their board-level duties without payment.
One indication of the extent that employee representatives are included in the overall work of the board is the degree of their involvement in board-level committees. The 2023 Ethics & Boards and IFA report notes that 84.1% of the 88 SPF 120 companies covered by the Pacte legislation had employee board members on at least one committee with 80.7% having an employee member of the remuneration committee. 90
Board-level employee representatives have specific rights and protections in two areas. First, they can only be dismissed with the permission of the local labour inspector, and this protection continues for six months after they have stepped down. Second, they are entitled to 40 hours of training for their duties (increased from 20 by the Pacte legislation in 2019).
European representatives from France – for both European Works Councils and European Company bodies – are appointed by the unions. The exception is board level representatives in a European Company, where the representative body decides how they should be chosen.
European Works Councils
French members of the special negotiating body (SNB) are appointed by the unions, based on their support in works council elections, either from among the works council members or from among the trade union delegates in the company. If there is no union presence the employees themselves make the choice. 91
The position is the same for members of an EWC set up under the fall-back procedure in the annex to the directive.
One particular power potentially given to EWCs in large French companies is to appoint one of the employee board level representatives (see section on board-level employee representation). According to the 2013 law on employment security, in companies employing 5,000 people in France, or 10,000 worldwide, the shareholders’ meeting can decide that where there are two employee representatives on the board, one of them should be appointed by the EWC. 92
European Company
Special Negotiating Body members from France are chosen by unions from among the elected works council members or the appointed trade union delegates, on the basis of union results in the most recent elections. 93
The position is the same for the French members of the SE representative body, as set up under the annex to the directive. 94
It is the SE representative body which decides how employee representatives at board level in a European Company are to be chosen. But the legislation also states that where an election takes place it should follow the same rules as for the election of national employee board level representatives in state-owned companies – in other words an election by all employees on the basis of nominations made by representative unions or at least 5% of the employees of the company (at least 100 in companies with 2,000 or more employees).
Employee health and safety bodies
Since 2018, dealing with health and safety issues in the private sector has been one of the tasks of the Social and Economic Committee (Comité Social et Économique – CSE), rather than being the responsibility of a separate health and safety committee, as in the past. This follows the merging of three separate bodies representing employees, the employee delegates (DP), the works council CE) and the health and safety committee (CHSCT), into the CSE, following the changes introduced by President Emmanuel Macron in 2017 (see Workplace representation). Only in companies with 300 or more employees must a specialist health, safety and working conditions committee be formed. This is the CSSCT, a sub-committee of the CSE.
In the public services, similar changes were introduced through legislation passed in 2019. 95 This resulted in the merging of two previously separate bodies, the general (Comité technique – CT) and the health and safety committee (CHSCT) into a single body, the Social Committee (Comité social), although the names of this committee vary according to the three areas of public service in France. In central government, the new body is called the Comité social d’administration; in regional and local government, it is the Comité social territorial; and in the hospital service, it is the Comité social d'établissement. 96
There is a specialist health and safety committee, known as the FSSCT, but only in larger organisations with more than 200 employees in central government and regional and local government.
Numbers and structure
In the private sector a Social and Economic Committee (CSE) must be set up in all companies with at least 11 employees, although its rights and duties vary with the number of employees, with two thresholds – 50 employees and 300.
The Social and Economic Committee (CSE) is a joint body consisting of the employer, who chairs it and who may be accompanied by up to three colleagues, and elected representatives of the employees. The number of employee representatives is set out precisely in the legislation, starting with a single representative in companies with between 11 and 24 employees, rising in stages to 35 in a company with 10,000 employees. For example, a company with 500 employees will have 13 employee representatives on the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) and one with 1,000 will have 17 (for full details of the size of the CSE see Workplace representation).
The trade union delegate (DS), if there is one, is also entitled to be a member of the CSE, and, in companies with 300 or more employees, each representative trade union organisation can send a representative to the CSE
In companies with more than 300 employees, a health, safety and working conditions committee (commission santé, sécurité et conditions de travail – CSSCT) must be set up to take on most of the health and safety responsibilities of the CSE. It must also be established in smaller companies if they operate in a particularly dangerous industry, or if the labour inspectorate decides that this is necessary.
This health, safety and working conditions committee is a joint body, chaired by the employer or the employer’s representative. Other individuals can accompany the employer to this health and safety committee, but their total number cannot exceed the number of employee representatives.
The employee representatives on the health, safety and working conditions committee (CSSCT) are chosen by the CSE, from among the members of that committee. There must be at least three employee representatives, including one representative of more senior staff, but the detailed arrangements, in terms of numbers and functioning, are left for negotiations between the employer and the union delegates. If there is no union delegate, they are to be negotiated with the CSE, and, if these negotiations are unsuccessful, the CSE fixes the rules.
In the public services, the social committee, which has the main role in health and safety in organisations with up to 200 employees, consists of the head of the organisation, who chairs it, plus the human resources manager and a set number of employee representatives, depending on the number employed. In central government, this varies between five and 10 (see Workplace representation).
Specialist health and safety committees (FSSCTs) must be set up in each public establishment with more than 200 staff in central and regional and local government. They are joint committees, chaired by a representative of management and in both central and regional and local government have between five and 10 employee members depending on the number of employees (see Table). The figures are slightly different in the hospital service.
Size of specialist health and safety committees in public sector
Number of employees | Number of employee representatives |
Up to 200 | 5 |
201 to 500 | 7 |
501 to 700 | 8 |
More than 700 | 10 |
In terms of how frequently these structures are found, the latest survey from Dares, the research arm of the ministry of labour, shows that, in the private sector, just over a third (35.8%) of companies with more than 10 employees had at least one elected representative body in 2023, normally a CSE. They covered three -quarters (76.6%) of employees in workplaces above the 10-employee threshold. 97
The survey found that specialist health and safety committees (CSSCTs) existed in around a sixth (17.4%) of companies with at least 10 employees, but 85.3% of companies with 300 or more employees, where they are supposed to be obligatory. In terms of employees, 66.3% of all employees in companies with more than 10 were covered by a CSSCT and 92.6% of those who work in companies with 300 or more employees.
Research by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work in 2019 allows for a European wide comparison. It found that 24% of workplaces in France had health and safety representatives, the lowest percentage anywhere in the EU and well below the EU27 average of 56%. On the other hand, 29% of workplaces had a health and safety committee, above the EU27 average, which was 22%. 98 The figures, which are for workplaces with five or more employees, are based on a survey completed in summer 2019. This means that it does not fully reflect the 2017 legislative changes which were implemented from 2018 onwards.
Tasks and rights
In the private sector, the role of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) in the area of health and safety varies depending on whether there are fewer than 50 employees, between 50 and 299 employees, or 300 or more employees.
In companies with 11 or more but fewer than 50 employees, the employee members of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) have a right to promote health and safety and the improvement of working conditions in the company and to carry out investigations relating to accidents or the incidence of occupational diseases. They also have the right to draw attention to threats to health and safety, including as a result of bullying or sexual harassment, and to ask the employer to remedy the situation. In addition, they have the right to inform the labour inspectorate of any concerns they have about how regulations are being applied. More specifically, the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) should be informed when the employer has been sent the results of various official inspections, as well as being given access to those results. Where the committee undertakes investigations into accidents or the incidence of occupational diseases, these enquiries should be undertaken jointly by the employer (or the employer’s representative) and at least one employee representative.
In companies with 50 employees or more, the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) must be informed and consulted on a wide range of issues, some of which are specifically relevant to health and safety. These include working conditions, particular the length of working time; the introduction of new technology; and all important changes affecting health and safety and working conditions.
Specifically, in companies with 50 employees or more the committee should:
- analyse working conditions and occupational hazards faced by employees (particularly pregnant women);
- help to improve women’s access to all occupations, resolve problems linked to maternity and help make work accessible to the disabled; and
- support all initiatives intended to prevent bullying and sexual harassment, as well as sexist behaviour.
Some other tasks which were previously the responsibility of the health and safety committee under the previous structure (CHSCT), such as protecting the physical and mental health and safety of employees and analysing working conditions, are not part of the responsibilities of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE).
In companies with 50 employees or more, the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) must carry out regular health and safety inspections, and it investigates accidents at work or cases of occupational disease or illness linked to work, where they occur. It can make use of the advice of any employee of the company if it seems appropriate, and it can also ask to speak to neighbouring employers if their activities affect the company’s employees.
In companies with 50 employees or more, the employer must also provide the committee with an annual report setting out the overall position in relation to health and safety and an assessment of the actions carried out in the course of the year. The employer must also present the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) with an annual plan setting out proposals to reduce risks and improve working conditions. (These are part of the overall responsibility of the employer to report annually on a wide range of social conditions in the company.) In response to this report, the committee can propose the priority to be given to the actions planned and make additional suggestions.
As in smaller companies, each member of the committee in companies with 50 employees or more also has also the right to draw attention to threats to health and safety, including because of bullying or sexual harassment, and to ask the employer to remedy the situation.
Where a committee for health, safety and working conditions (CSSCT) has been set up, required in companies with 300 employees or more and in certain other circumstances (see Numbers and structure), the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) can delegate all or part of its health and safety responsibilities to this committee. However, the body for formal consultation with the employer continues to be the Social and Economic Committee (CSE), and it is the CSE which has the responsibility for asking for external expertise (see Resources, time off and training).
In the public services, the health and safety rights and duties of the social committees, the equivalent to the CSEs, are similar to those of the CSEs in the private sector. They must be consulted about important changes affecting health, safety and working conditions, as well as the annual report from the employer on health and safety and working conditions, and the annual plan for future action.
It has a right to visit and/or inspect areas for which it is responsible and particularly to carry out inspections following accidences or instances of occupational disease. The committee also carries out its own assessment of risks and can make proposals for improvements, particularly in the area of psychosocial risks, such as stress, bullying and sexual harassment.
The rights and duties of the specialist committee health and safety committee, the FSSCT, are more precise and similar to those of the comparable committee in the private sector, the CSSCT.
Frequency of meetings
The frequency of meetings of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) is set by negotiation. However, if there is no agreement, it must meet at least one a month in companies with 300 employees or more and once every two months in smaller companies. At least four of these meetings must deal with health and safety issues and these issues must be covered more often in companies where health and safety risks are higher. In addition, the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) should meet and discuss health and safety following any serious accident or potential accident, or after any event with an impact or potential impact on the environment or public safety. It should also meet if two employee members call for it to meet.
The frequency of meetings of the committee for health, safety and working conditions (CSSCT), where one exists, is determined by negotiation or, in the final instance, by decision of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE).
In public services, the social committee must meet at least twice a year in central government and the specialist health and safety committee, the FSSCT, must meet at least once a year.
Election and term of office
Employee representatives on the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) are elected by the whole workforce, although initially they can only be nominated by the unions. They are normally elected for four years (for more details see Election and term of office).
The employee members of the committee for health, safety and working conditions (CSSCT) are chosen by the Social and Economic Committee (CSE), from among the members of that committee.
In public services, the employee members of the Social Committee are elected by list for a period of four years (for more details see Election and term of office). In all three public services, the term of office of members of the health and safety committee is four years. The members of the specialist health and safety committee, the FSSCT are chosen by the Social Committee from among its members both full employee representatives (titulaires) and replacements (suppléants).
Resources, time off and training
Employee members of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) are entitled to paid time off, which varies with the number of employees. In companies with between 11 and 49 employees each member is entitled to 10 hours a month. In larger companies the amount of time off increases, rising to 34 hours a month per employee representative in companies with 9,750 or more employees.
For example, in a company with 250 employees, 11 representatives are each entitled to 22 hours a month – a total of 242 hours a month; in a company with 500, 13 representatives are entitled to 24 each – a total of 312; and in a company with 1,000 employees, 17 representatives are entitled to 24 hours each – a total of 408. These hours can be shared as wished between members of the committee, but they cover all the responsibilities of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE), not just health and safety (for more details see Time-off and other resources).
The employer must provide the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) with other resources, such as a meeting room, to enable it to function effectively.
The Social and Economic Committee (CSE) also has the right to make use of an external expert, where major changes to health and safety arrangements or working conditions are planned by the employer. The employer pays the bulk of the cost (80%) with the remaining 20% paid by the committee. In the case of a dispute, the courts decide whether an expert is necessary. It is the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) not the committee for health and safety and working conditions (CSSCT) which chooses to ask for the use of an expert.
Employee representatives on the committee for health, safety and working conditions (CSSCT) are entitled a paid period of training, which should help them assess risks, and eliminate or reduce them, as well as improving working conditions. Those dealing with health on safety on the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) have the same right to training. The amount provided varies with the number employed – five days for each four-year period of office in companies with 300 or more employees, three days in smaller companies.
In public services, the resources, time off and training available to employee members of the social committee dealing with health and safety issues are similar to similar to those of their counterparts in the private sector. The employer must provide the committee with the resources to enable it to fulfil its tasks, as well as time off, which varies with the number of employees.
The social committee and the specialist health and safety committee, the FSSCT, can ask for the involvement of an external expert, paid for by the employer, where major changes are being proposed or where there has been an accident or a case of an occupational disease. There are also mechanisms for resolving disagreements between the committee members and the employer on the need for an external expert.
Protection against dismissal
In the private sector, employee representatives on the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) can only be dismissed following an interview with the employer, consultation with the committee and with the permission of the local labour inspector (for more details see Protection against dismissal).
In public services, employee representatives dealing with health and safety on the social committee who are on standard employment contracts, similarly cannot de dismissed without the permission of the labour inspector. Those who have special employment status as civil servants have other more general protections against dismissal.
Other elements of workplace health and safety
French legislation emphasises the duty of employers to ensure the safety and protect the health, both physical and mental, of their employees. Among other things, the employer is obliged to draw up a written risk assessment, the single risk assessment document (DUERP), which must be updated at least annually. Employers in the private sector must appoint a competent employee to deal with risk prevention and protection, and if the appropriate skills are not available within the workforce, external experts can be used.
Employees in the private sector must also have access to an occupational health service (service de santé au travail). This can be provided internally in companies with 500 employees or more, but smaller companies must belong to a multi-company occupational health service (service de santé au travail interentreprise – SSTI), with the obligations and rights of the two sides set out in a long-term contract known as a CPOM.
In the public services, there is a network of health and safety advisers and assistant advisers (conseillers de prévention et assistants de prévention) who provide support and expertise in the area of health and safety, with the assistants working at local level and the more senior advisers having a coordinating role. These advisers have specialised training and one of their responsibilities can be to draw up the risk assessment document. Public sector employees also have access to occupational health services.
National context
At ministerial level, responsibility for health and safety at work is in the hands of the Ministry of Labour, Health, Solidarity and Families (Ministère du Travail, de la Santé, des Solidarités et des Familles). The responsibility for monitoring compliance with health and safety laws and regulations lies with the Labour Inspectorate (Inspection du travail), which also enforces employment legislation more generally. There are also a number of government agencies which support health and safety promotion, training and research, in particular the National Institute for Research and Safety (Institut national de recherche et de sécurité – INRS), the National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions (Agence nationale pour l'amélioration des conditions de travail – ANACT), and the Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail – ANSES). 99
In addition to the general process of social dialogue, which gives unions and employers a consultative role in social policy, trade unions and employers can influence health and safety policy through their membership of the Guidance Council for Working Conditions (Conseil d’orientation des conditions de travail – COCT). The employers’ associations and the unions each have eight seats on the 42-member body, with the rest taken by government representatives (both national and local) and representatives of the health and safety agencies (11 seats), and health and safety experts (15 seats).
In the public services unions have a direct role in developing health and safety policy through their membership of the bodies which each service has as part of its consultative structure. These include the central committee on health, safety and working conditions (Commission centrale de l'hygiène, de la sécurité et des conditions de travail), present in both central government and the hospital service, and the higher council (Conseil supérieur), which exists in all three services.
Key legislation
Labour Code, Book III: Representative employee institutions
Labour Code, Fourth Part: Health and safety at work
Code du travail, Livre III : Les institutions représentatives du personnel
Code du travail, Quatrième partie : Santé et sécurité au travail
- 1
For a detailed examination of trade unions in France see France: Fragmented trade unions, few members, but many voters and much social unrest by Udo Rehfeldt and Catherine Vincent in Trade Unions in the European Union, edited by Jeremy Waddington, Torsten Müller and Kurt Vandaele, Peter Lang, 2023 https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/Chapter11_France_Fragmented%20trade%20unions%2C%20few%20members%2C%20but%20many%20voters%20and%20much%20social%20unrest_2023.pdf
- 2
Léger repli de la syndicalisation en France entre 2013 et 2019, Dares, 2023 https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/73d70d2f04ce15c6ee16dbd65c81601e/2023-06.pdf
- 3
Mythes et réalités de la syndicalisation en France, by Thomas Amossé DARES 2004 https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/f8f5153e516232a6f1f20818645b63a1/Dares_Mythes%20et%20r%C3%A9alit%C3%A9s%20de%20la%20syndicalisation%20en%20France.pdf
- 4
OECD/AIAS ICTWSS database, http://www.oecd.org/employment/ictwss-database.htm based on Syndicalisation, Dares, 8 October 2018, https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/dares-etudes-et-statistiques/statistiques-de-a-a-z/article/syndicalisation
- 5
Représentativité syndicale et patronale : les résultats de la mesure d’audience 2025,
Publié le 08/04/2025 Ministère du Travail et de l’Emploi https://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/representativite-syndicale-et-patronale-les-resultats-de-la-mesure-daudience-2025
- 6
Résultats des élections professionnelles pour les comités sociaux de proximité dans la fonction publique en 2022 DGAFP, March 2023 https://www.fonction-publique.gouv.fr/files/files/publications/stats-rapides/resultats-des-elections-professionnelles-pour-les-comites-sociaux-de-proximite-dans-la-fonction-publique-en-2022.pdf
- 7
Syndicalisation : Une CFDT plus nombreuse, plus féminine et plus jeune, CFDT, 24 May 2024 https://www.cfdt.fr/sinformer/communiques-de-presse/syndicalisation-une-cfdt-plus-nombreuse-plus-feminine-et-plus-jeune
- 8
53e Congrès - Rapport D'activité, CGT, 2023 https://www.calameo.com/read/0046291835d4bd9648161?authid=c8WBk16Ap7WL
- 9
FO estime avoir « à peu près 350.000 adhérents », Les Echos, 2 June 2022 https://www.lesechos.fr/economie-france/social/fo-compterait-a-peu-pres-350000-adherents-1410938
- 10
Quelques chiffres, CFTC https://www.cftc.fr/quelques-chiffres
- 11
Rapport financier 38 Congres de la CFE-CGC, 2023 https://www.cfecgc.org/uploads/media/641ad62275441/rapport-financier-congres-tours.pdf
- 12
- 13
https://solidaires.org/se-syndiquer/a-propos-de-solidaires/presentation/
- 14
https://fsu.fr/la-vie-federale/la-f-s-u/presentation-objectifs/
- 15
https://www.cfdt.fr/qui-est-la-cfdt/notre-fonctionnement/les-federations-professionnelles
- 16
- 17
- 18
Rôle et place des unions locales dans la CGT https://www.cgt.fr/sites/default/files/2023-06/20230612_PLACE_UL_doc_numerique.pdf
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
https://www.unsa.org/Des-federations-par-secteur-professionnel.html
- 23
https://solidaires.org/se-syndiquer/a-propos-de-solidaires/presentation/
- 24
France: Fragmented trade unions, few members, but many voters and much social unrest by Udo Rehfeldt and Catherine Vincent in Trade Unions in the European Union,edited by Jeremy Waddington, Torsten Müller and Kurt Vandaele, Peter Lang, 2023
- 25
Réforme des retraites : la CFDT décline l’invitation de François Bayrou de reprendre les discussions. Le Monde 27.06.2025 https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2025/06/27/reforme-des-retraites-la-cfdt-decline-l-invitation-de-francois-bayrou-de-reprendre-les-discussions_6616148_823448.html
- 26
La CFDT en 10 points https://www.cfdt.fr/portail/nous-connaitre/la-cfdt-en-10-points/la-cfdt-en-10-points-rec_66780
- 27
Qui sommes-nous ? https://www.cgt.fr/dossiers/qui-sommes-nous
- 28
- 29
- 30
Statuts UNSA https://www.unsa.org/IMG/pdf/statuts_unsa-2019.pdf
- 31
- 32
- 33
https://www.vie-publique.fr/fiches/291546-quest-ce-que-le-droit-syndical-ou-liberte-syndicale
- 34
LOI n° 2008-789 du 20 août 2008 portant rénovation de la démocratie sociale et réforme du temps de travail https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/JORFTEXT000019347122
- 35
Léger repli de la syndicalisation en France entre 2013 et 2019, Dares, 2023
- 36
53e Congrès - Rapport D'activité, CGT, 2023
- 37
Léger repli de la syndicalisation en France entre 2013 et 2019, Dares, 2023
- 38
Syndicalisation : Une CFDT plus nombreuse, plus féminine et plus jeune, CFDT, 24 May 2024 and Quelques chiffres, CFTC
- 39
For a detailed examination of collective bargaining in France see France: the rush towards prioritising the enterprise level by Catherine Vincent in Collective bargaining in Europe: towards an endgame, edited by Torsten Müller, Kurt Vandaele and Jeremy Waddington, ETUI, 2019 https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/CB%20Vol%20I%20Chapter%2011.pdf
- 40
OECD (2024), "Trade Unions: Collective bargaining coverage (Edition 2023)", OECD Employment and Labour Market Statistics (database) http://www.oecd.org/employment/ictwss-database.htm
- 41
LOI n° 2007-130 du 31 janvier 2007 de modernisation du dialogue social
- 42
La négociation collective en 2023: Édition 2024, Ministère du Travail et de l’Emploi https://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/sites/travail-emploi/files/2024-12/Bilan-de-la-negociation-collective-BNC-Version-integrale-2023.pdf
- 43
La négociation interprofessionnelle en 2025: une inversion de tendance? By Jacques Freyssinet, IRES, 2025 https://ires.fr/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Eclairage_31.pdf
- 44
Les fiches statistiques sur les conventions collectives de branche en 2022 in La négociation collective en 2023
- 45
La négociation collective en 2023
- 46
Ordonnance n° 2017-1385 du 22 septembre 2017 relative au renforcement de la négociation collective
- 47
La négociation collective d'entreprise 28 August 2024, https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/donnees/la-negociation-collective-dentreprise
- 48
La négociation collective d’entreprise en 2016, Dares, December 2018 https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/pdf/dares_analyses_negociation_collective_entreprise_2016.pdf
- 49
La négociation collective en 2023: Édition 2024, Ministère du Travail et de l’Emploi https://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/sites/travail-emploi/files/2024-12/Bilan-de-la-negociation-collective-BNC-Version-integrale-2023.pdf
- 50
Dialogue social sectoriel et décentralisation des négociations: Étude comparée France/Allemagne, by Marine Cheuvreux and Laurence Rambert, Les Cahiers de la DG Trésor –n° 2017-01, February 2017 https://www.tresor.economie.gouv.fr/Articles/82e954b7-f19e-41d6-b6f7-cb0e54d8921c/files/e14d10ea-7bcd-4b93-8929-27d50c0ebc58#:~:text=Enfin%2C%20la%20France%20se%20distingue,syst%C3%A9matique%20des%20accords%20de%20branche.
- 51
La négociation collective en 2023: Édition 2024, Ministère du Travail et de l’Emploi
- 52
La couverture conventionnelle a fortement progressé entre 1997 et 2004, Dares, 2006
- 53
OECD.Stat https://stats.oecd.org/ (Accessed 24.01.2018)
- 54
Ordonnance n° 2017-1385 du 22 septembre 2017 relative au renforcement de la négociation collective
- 55
Représentativité syndicale et patronale : les résultats de la mesure d’audience 2025,
Publié le 08/04/2025 Ministère du Travail et de l’Emploi https://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/representativite-syndicale-et-patronale-les-resultats-de-la-mesure-daudience-2025
- 56
La représentativité syndicale par branche en 2021, Les clés du social, January 2022 https://www.clesdusocial.com/la-representativite-syndicale-par-branche-en-2021#:~:text=Rappelons%20que%20pour%20%C3%AAtre%20repr%C3%A9sentative,obtenu%20par%20les%20organisations%20repr%C3%A9sentatives.
- 57
La négociation collective en 2023: Édition 2024, Ministère du Travail et de l’Emploi
- 58
Ibid
- 59
https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/juri/id/JURITEXT000007050228/
- 60
- 61
For details on the right to strike in the three public services, state, local and hospital see https://www.demarches.interieur.gouv.fr/particuliers/droit-greve-fonction-publique
- 62
Les grèves en 2023, Dares, January, 2025 https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/publication/les-greves-en-2023
- 63
La négociation collective en 2023: Édition 2024, Ministère du Travail et de l’Emploi
- 64
Ibid
- 65
La revalorisation du Smic au 1er janvier 2024, Dares, November 2024 https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/publication/la-revalorisation-du-smic-au-1er-janvier-2024#:~:text=En%202024%2C%20l'%C3%A9volution%20du,%25)%20(%C3%A9chelle%20de%20gauche).
- 66
- 67
Ordonnance No. 2017-1386
- 68
La loi n° 2019-828 du 6 août 2019
- 69
Quelles instances de dialogue social après la loi de transformation de la fonction publique ? Vie publique, 9 March 2021 https://www.vie-publique.fr/eclairage/271436-quelles-instances-de-dialogue-social-dans-la-fonction-publique
- 70
Les instances de représentation des salariés dans les entreprises en 2023, Dares February 2025 https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/publication/les-instances-de-representation-du-personnel-en-2023
- 71
Ibid.
- 72
European Company Survey 2019 - Workplace practices unlocking employee potential, by Gijs van Houten and Giovanni Russo, Eurofound 2020, Figures for Table 72 https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/system/files/2020-11/ef20001en.pdf
- 73
Les représentants du personnel dans l’entreprise: des salariés comme les autres? Dares,January 2019 https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/publications/les-representants-du-personnel-dans-l-entreprise
- 74
Article R2314-1pf the Labour Code
- 75
Article 14, Décret n° 2020-1427 du 20 novembre 2020
- 76
Qu'est-ce qu'une section syndicale? Service public https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F35261#:~:text=La%20section%20syndicale%20est%20repr%C3%A9sent%C3%A9e,pas%20repr%C3%A9sentatif%20dans%20l'entreprise.
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Guide relatif aux comités sociaux d’administration et aux formations spécialisées de la fonction publique de l’État, DGAFP, October 2023 https://www.fonction-publique.gouv.fr/files/files/publications/publications-dgafp/guide_csa.pdf
- 78
Vers plus de parité dans les élections professionnelles ? Dares, October 2024 https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/7f2b6165f4f04081c68dbb5b593e03b7/Dares_Analyses_Vers_plus_de_parit%C3%A9_dans_les_%C3%A9lections_professionnelles.pdf
- 79
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Les licenciements et les ruptures conventionnelles des contrats des salariés protégés, principaux indicateurs, Dares, March 2017 https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/publications/les-licenciements-et-ruptures-conventionnelles-des-contrats-des-salaries
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Congé de formation économique, sociale, environnementale et syndicale, Service-Public.fr https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F2320#:~:text=Qui%20est%20concern%C3%A9%20%3F,est%20n%C3%A9cessaire%20pour%20en%20b%C3%A9n%C3%A9ficier.&text=les%20demandeurs%20d'emploi%20peuvent,tout%20en%20percevant%20leurs%20allocations.
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Arrêté du 7 mars 1986 pris pour l'application de l'article L. 451-1 du code du travail https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/LEGITEXT000006072220
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Les instances de représentation du personnel en 2023, Dares, February 2025 https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/publication/les-instances-de-representation-du-personnel-en-2023
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LOI n° 2013-504 du 14 juin 2013 relative à la sécurisation de l'emploi, 2013 https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/JORFTEXT000027546648
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LOI n° 2015-994 du 17 août 2015 relative au dialogue social et à l'emploi, 2015 https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/JORFTEXT000031046061
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LOI n° 2019-486 du 22 mai 2019 relative à la croissance et la transformation des entreprises, 2019 https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/dossierlegislatif/JORFDOLE000037080861/
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For a description of the “step by step” development of board-level employee representation in France see Rapport remis par le Gouvernement au Parlement evaluant les effets economiques et manageriaux de la presence d'administrateurs representant les salaries au sein des conseils d'administration ou de surveillance des societes, Direction générale du Trésor, July 2022 https://www.tresor.economie.gouv.fr/Articles/5511a03e-3897-4dd8-b795-a2c1926617ef/files/115f4181-c769-4640-bcf5-633336d7229b
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Baromètre IFA-Ethics & Board du SBF 120 - Post-AG 2023, IFA-Ethics & Board, 2023 https://www.ifa-asso.com/mediatheques/barometre-ifa-ethicsboard-du-sbf-120-post-ag-2023/
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Rapport remis par le Gouvernement au Parlement evaluant les effets economiques et manageriaux de la presence d'administrateurs representant les salaries au sein des conseils d'administration ou de
surveillance des societes, Direction générale du Trésor, July 2022 https://www.tresor.economie.gouv.fr/Articles/5511a03e-3897-4dd8-b795-a2c1926617ef/files/115f4181-c769-4640-bcf5-633336d7229b
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Baromètre IFA-Ethics & Board du SBF 120 - Post-AG 2023, IFA-Ethics & Board, 2023
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Labour Code Article L2344-2
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LOI n° 2013-504 du 14 juin 2013 relative à la sécurisation de l'emploi, 2013
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Labour Code Article L2352-5
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Labour Code Article L2353-9
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La loi n° 2019-828 du 6 août 2019
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Quelles instances de dialogue social après la loi de transformation de la fonction publique ? Vie publique, 9 March 2021 https://www.vie-publique.fr/eclairage/271436-quelles-instances-de-dialogue-social-dans-la-fonction-publique
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Les instances de représentation des salariés dans les entreprises en 2023, Dares February 2025 https://dares.travail-emploi.gouv.fr/publication/les-instances-de-representation-du-personnel-en-2023
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Third European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER 2019): Overview Report How European workplaces manage safety and health, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work https://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/esener-2019-overview-report-how-european-workplaces-manage-safety-and-health
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For more information on the national context see OSH system at national level – France, OSH Wiki https://oshwiki.eu/wiki/OSH_system_at_national_level_-_France