Interview: Pierre Mences of the CFTC

 “We are going to bring the competition amongst the banks into play”

General Treasurer, Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens

Lettre du Trésorier

When was the Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens formed?

Pierre Mences
CFTC’s history is very closely tied in with the French trade union movement, because the first Christian trade union, the Syndicat des Employés du Commerce et Interprofessionel was formed in 1887, just three years after the Aldeck-Rousseau Act authorising trade unions and professional associations. The Confederation was formed in 1919. Its specific feature lies in its attachment to Christian social values. This consists in economic and social terms of putting the economy to the service of mankind rather than mankind to the service of the economy. It is this principle which guides our trade union activity. The CFTC is often equated with a Christian trade union – this is wrong. The values which drive us – respect for human dignity, solidarity with the weaker, concern for the common good … may be shared by followers of other religions and also atheists or agnostics.

We currently have 140,000 active or retired members, around one thousand professional or geographical structures, strong positions in sectors such as Christian education, commerce and the fire service, and in regions such as Alsace where CFTC membership rate exceeds 30%, Brittany, the regions of the Loire, in addition to Paris and the surrounding area.

The trade unions are sometimes criticised for their opaque financial dealings and the way they use their financial resources…?

PM: Those criticisms are partly justified – even though until very recently, it was right to speak of opaque dealings in the strict sense of the word because there were little or no accounting obligations incumbent on the trade unions. This situation changed profoundly as a result of the Act of 20 August 2008, which caused a major upheaval in the trade union world for both employers and employees. We are all going to have to comply with accounting standards, knuckle down to keeping and publishing accounts at all levels from the units within companies to the confederation, including the regional associations. Not all the implementing decrees have been published yet but from 2011 it is expected that we will have standardised accounts for trade unions. It must be pointed out that the accounts are audited, the technical question currently being the amount of resources we will have.

Download our Free Treasury App for mobile and tablet to read articles – no log in required.

Download Version Download Version