tied to the policies of the Communist Party it has been the largest and most militant of the federations. It remains France's premier union.
It currently faces a crisis of The collapse of the Communist Party means it will have to chose a new way forward - either cling to the grubby tailcoats of the declining Stalinist apparatus or explore the possibility of a also very uneven. radical trade union project. French trade unlonism is unique In Europe. Only rarely has It been a mass force - this Is due to the very specifie evolution of the workforce and the speclal expectation of French workers of a political outlet to their demands.
This has been a constant since the revo- Ised. lution of 1789-93. Less than eight per cent of France's workforce are In unions, the lowest rate of any OECD country.
The CGT federatlon claims 450,000 members, the CFDT orobably has no more than 360,000. The strength of the untons is More than half of the COT is concentrated in five professions: energy, metal, rail, post and publie services.
Other than metal, all these are governed by state regulations which provide better protection than the private sector.
Half of the private sector worktorce - six million people - are virtually non-unionA turther five million unemployed and temporarily employed are outside of organIsed labour. Since 1969 all the union confederations have been declining in membership.
The clalm of the trade unlon federations to represent the diversity of the workforce Is less and less persuasive.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 84, May 27 1995, Page 7