Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) and industrial unrest leading to May 1968 (1950–1968)
In the early 1950s, France faced inflation and disputes over wages and public-sector benefits. Large strike waves, in which the CGT played a major organizing role, put heavy pressure on the government of Joseph Laniel. These confrontations set a pattern of recurring industrial unrest in the years leading up to 1968.
During the Algerian War, the CGT participated in demonstrations against violence and for peace. On 8 February 1962, police actions at the Charonne metro entrance killed nine activists identified with the CGT. The event deepened mistrust of state power and tightened links between labor activism and wider political protest.
On 1 March 1963, coal miners launched a major strike that spread across key mining regions. The CGT, alongside other union confederations, supported the action as miners demanded wage gains and defended their right to strike. The scale of solidarity across sectors showed how a single industry conflict could become a national issue.
After more than a month, the 1963 miners’ strike ended with workers returning under a settlement shaped heavily by government decisions. The conflict became a lasting reference point in French labor politics because it highlighted both the power and limits of national strikes. It also encouraged unions to think more strategically about coordination across sectors.
On 10 January 1966, the CGT and the CFDT signed a formal agreement to coordinate action and demands. The agreement aimed to strengthen bargaining power on wages, working conditions, jobs, and trade-union rights inside workplaces. This new cooperation mattered because it made later nationwide mobilizations easier to build.
On 16 May 1967, unions called a nationwide strike and demonstrations amid disputes over wage restraint and the government’s request for expanded authority to act by decree. The CGT participated alongside other labor federations, showing growing capacity for cross-union action. These mobilizations helped normalize the idea that large, coordinated strikes could pressure national policy.
At the CGT’s 36th congress, Georges Séguy was elected general secretary on 16 June 1967. His leadership would shape how the CGT responded to both social-policy reforms and the growing strike movement that culminated in May–June 1968. This leadership change helped define the CGT’s strategy of mass action combined with negotiation.
In August 1967, the government issued the Jeanneney ordinances to restructure the Social Security system, including reorganizing its national funds. The CGT and CFDT helped lead opposition through protest and strike days, framing the reform as unfair and imposed from above. The conflict sharpened tensions between workers and the state in the year before May 1968.
After confrontations between students and police, major union confederations called a 24-hour general strike and demonstration for 13 May 1968. The CGT’s participation signaled that the crisis was no longer only about universities and policing. This step helped open the way for a much larger strike wave across workplaces.
Starting with early workplace occupations and spreading rapidly, millions of workers joined strikes and occupied factories in May 1968. The CGT became central in coordinating demands and managing negotiations, even as many actions developed from the shop floor upward. The scale of work stoppages turned political unrest into the largest industrial conflict in modern French history.
From 25 to 27 May 1968, the government, employers, and unions negotiated at the Ministry of Social Affairs on Rue de Grenelle. The talks produced major proposed gains, including a large increase in the minimum wage and expanded union rights in workplaces. CGT leader Georges Séguy was a key negotiator, reflecting the CGT’s dual role as mobilizer and bargaining agent.
Many workplace assemblies rejected the Grenelle proposals, including at the Renault Billancourt plant where CGT influence was traditionally strong. The refusal showed a widening gap between union leadership seeking a settlement and many striking workers demanding deeper change. Strikes continued, making it harder for the CGT to steer events through national-level bargaining alone.
On 30 May 1968, President Charles de Gaulle responded to the ongoing crisis by dissolving the National Assembly and calling new elections. This political move shifted the struggle from streets and workplaces toward electoral competition. It also increased pressure on unions, including the CGT, as the strike wave began to wind down in the following weeks.
In December 1968, France passed a law establishing the section syndicale d’entreprise (a union section within a workplace), a key demand discussed during Grenelle. This reform strengthened unions’ legal presence inside firms and shaped how collective bargaining worked afterward. It served as a concrete institutional outcome of the unrest, even though the broader political hopes of many strikers were not met.