Edmond Maire | |
---|---|
General Secretary of the CFDT | |
In office 1971–1988 | |
Preceded by | Eugène Descamps |
Succeeded by | Jean Kaspar |
Personal details | |
Born | Épinay-sur-Seine, France | 24 January 1931
Died | 1 October 2017 France | (aged 86)
Children | Jacques Maire |
Education | Lycée Jacques-Decour |
Edmond Maire (French pronunciation: [ɛdmɔ̃ mɛːʁ]; 24 January 1931 – 1 October 2017) was a French labor union leader. He was the secretary general of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) from 1971 to 1988. He was dismissive of strike actions and supported a more equal division of labour.
Edmond Maire was born on 24 January 1931 in Épinay-sur-Seine near Paris. [1] [2] [3] His father was a railroad employee for the SNCF at the Gare du Nord, and his mother was a housewife. [1] He was raised as a devout Roman Catholic alongside six siblings. [1]
Maire was educated at the Collège-lycée Jacques-Decour in Paris and did not go to university. [1] He began working at 18 and took evening classes in chemistry at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers. [1] He subsequently did his military service. [1]
Maire began his career as a chemist for Pechiney in Aubervilliers near Paris. [1] He quit his job to focus on activism. After he retired from the CFDT, he became the chief executive of Villages Vacances Familles, a chain of affordable holiday villages later known as Belambra Clubs. [2]
Maire first joined the French Confederation of Christian Workers in 1954. [1] [2] In 1964, he was a co-founder of a secular splinter group, the French Democratic Confederation of Labour. [3] [2] Maire succeeded Eugène Descamps as the secretary general of the CFDT from 1971 to 1988. [1] [2] [3] He took on a more centrist approach, which led more left-wing labour leaders like Jacques Julliard to criticize him. [4] For example, Maire dismissed strike actions as "old labour mythology." [4] Instead, he was a proponent of a more equal division of labour. [4] In 1981, he complained that French public intellectuals were not sufficiently supportive of his efforts. [5] He was succeeded by Jean Kaspar. [2] [3]
Maire joined the Socialist Party in 1974. [2] He was close to Pierre Mendès France, Michel Rocard and Jacques Delors. [5] He was a supporter of the 35-hour workweek passed by the Socialist government under Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in 2000. [2]
Maire died on 1 October 2017. [1] [2] [3] One of his sons, Jacques Maire, is a member of the National Assembly for En Marche! [3]
Upon his death, Muriel Pénicaud, the French Minister of Labour, tweeted that Maire "transformed and inspired industrial relations." [3]