Research Work on the Identity Change of one French Trade Union: Making a Link between Meso and Micro Perspectives

This paper proposal aims to put light on identity change in a specific French union, CFDT. Created in 1964, CFDT situated collective bargaining as complementary with conflict and strike. From the 1980’s, CFDT leaders progressively institute negotiation as the main logic of action against conflict. This identity change is so important that negotiation becomes the CFDT identification mark from the 1990’s. How do CFDT leaders change the representation from the top to the basis of this action of the ”collective action repertory”? How do unionists appropriate this “compromise logic” in local contexts? How do CFDT leaders cope with basis resistance forms? I propose to study this organisational identity change, anchored in both collective and individual processes, from two different focuses: one with the historian tools and the other with the ethnographer tools. First, from a work on archives from the 1960’s to the 2000’s focalised both on negotiation unionists formation and CFDT leaders arrangement work with the most important employers’ organisation, I will highlight the institutionalization of “compromise logic” by CFDT leaders inside and outside the organization. Second, I will focus the demonstration on a passengers’ transport enterprise because of my entrance in all processes of collective bargaining during two years: aside employer and his members’ direction, with CFDT trade unionist and the others, during meetings. This case allows to study individual processes of CFDT identity appropriation forms. I will do a link between the micro level – the enterprise, CFDT negotiator relations with direction, other unionists, and employees – and the meso level, notably by his relations with local and national CFDT leaders. This communication permits to explain the CFDT identity change both as a leaders construction work and as individual identity appropriation forms in a way which pays attention to production, transformation and diffusion conditions.