Quand les salariés reprennent le contrôle

Employees can participate in company decisions and improve their working conditions, which works well in some organizations.

• Traces back to union struggles in early 20th century • Linked to the Liberation of 1945 and major nationalizations • Creation of EDF and GDF in 1946

CCAS (Caisse Centrale d'Activités Sociales) born from CCOS in 1946, little-known but powerful, unique in Europe.

• What exactly is CCAS? • Why is this model unique in Europe? • How has it remained powerful and obscure for 80 years?

• France drained after five years of war and Nazi occupation • Railway lines destroyed, agricultural production at half capacity • One-fifth of real estate destroyed, rationing until 1949 • Failing electricity production causing regular blackouts

Established in 1944 under General de Gaulle to implement the program of the National Resistance Council adopted on 15 March 1944.

Between 1944 and January 1946, moderate wings of CNR (MRP and CFTC) align with socialists and communists on massive state intervention in the economy.

• Creation of Social Security under Ambroise Croizat • Nationalization of mining and gas and electricity industries • Merger of over 1,300 private electricity and gas companies employing approximately 100,000 workers

Published on 8 April 1946, guarantees employment security and a single wage scale where all workers (from laborer to engineer) receive identical proportional raises.

Creation of social programs: CCOS (Central Council of Social Works) and CMCAS (Mutual Supplementary Social Action Funds).

• Management exclusively by trade unions without employer participation • Budget of minimum 1% of company revenue from compensations paid to former owners • Benefits all EDF-GDF workers and retirees across the entire industry • Manages social and cultural activities: vacations, discounts, outings

Distributed nationwide, they serve dual roles as local Social Security sections and supplementary mutual funds allowing workers to receive healthcare and reimbursements.

• Born July 1900, abandoned at birth, ward of public care • Farm laborer at 13, becomes Marine electromechanic in 1917 • Participates in naval riot in Brest in 1919, refuses to break strike in 1920 • Joins CGT and advocates for unified personnel status in electricity sector from 1930s onward

• Befriends Maurice Thorez who encourages him to run for office • Elected in municipal elections in Paris 14th arrondissement • Communist Party member and secretary general of powerful CGT Lighting Federation

• Arrested November 1941 and imprisoned • Deported to Auschwitz then Buchenwald • Represents France in secret international camp committee • Saves several French deportees, including industrialist Marcel Dassault

Minister of Industrial Production in 1945, he orchestrates nationalization and chairs CCOS board from first elections on 14 January 1947 (CGT wins 84% of votes).

CCOS establishes five departments: Health (care centers, sanitariums), Mutual-Solidarity (CMCAS), Cooperatives (stores), Canteens (subsidized network), Youth-Sports-Leisure (vacations).

• In 1947, 6,492 children attend 37 colonies and four tent camps • For the majority of the population, vacations as understood today simply did not exist • Children discover the outdoors, healthy food, and their first real vacations • Tents purchased from American army, supplied by the Trigano family

In the 1950s, fifteen new centers open in the Alps, Pyrenees, Alsace, Côte d'Azur, Charente, Brittany, and Gironde.

The network relies largely on volunteers in the spirit of 'by and for workers,' a founding principle of CCAS that persists today.

• Tensions between Allies and USSR from 1947 • Central Europe falls under Moscow's influence • Marshall Plan rescues Western economies • Cold War begins with considerable impact on CCOS's future

In May 1947, communist ministers must leave government. Marcel Paul faces press campaign accusing him of delivering deportees to Germans during the war.

• In 1948, decree proposes transferring management to ministry and subjecting spending to Finance control • CGT declares 24-hour strike and threatens unlimited strike • In October 1950, Jean-Marie Louvel breaks up CCOS into regional councils and institutes veto power

In February 1951, government dissolves CCOS outright. Era of 'provisional delegation' begins and lasts thirteen years. CGT refuses to participate in social activities.

Appointment of Pierre Mendès France as President of Council in 1955 enables breakthrough. By decree, CCOS transforms into CCAS (Caisse Centrale d'Activités Sociales) and management returns to trade unions in 1964.

Public authorities long refuse Marcel Paul as CCAS head. Only in 1964 does the Energy Federation resume social activities by renouncing its presidency. René Le Guen succeeds him and remains until 1972.

• Insufficient and poorly adapted network • Leadership needs renewal • Pedagogical objectives require fundamental redefinition • Crisis caused significant damage

Upon resuming control, youth becomes primary focus with one-third of total budget. By mid-1970s, CCAS can accommodate 14,000 children per session.

May 1968 has passed. Society enters consumer society. Coeducation becomes standard in children's camps where boys and girls were previously separated.

New debates emerge around sexuality and contraception. CCAS does not avoid them and gradually refines its pedagogical approach.

• Stays focused on culture, sports, and science • Promotes discovery, autonomy, and group living • In 1985, creates festival in Soulac-sur-Mer with 7,000 participants first year • 18th edition will take place in Mondonville in May 2026

CCAS enables families to take vacations. It quickly acquires permanent centers through land purchases from 1964 onward. Everything is still managed by workers themselves.

Retirees from the sector are called 'Agents in inactive service.' They remain agents with same rights as active workers.

• Becomes founding member then administrator of National Gerontology Foundation in 1970s • Prioritizes home care by offering long winter stays with paramedical support • Nursing homes used only as last resort

Fairly pioneering in all inclusivity domains. In 1970s, Dr. Kippman attempts different approach by integrating people with disabilities into regular vacation centers.

• Choice of openness and coeducation proves successful • Ministry of Youth adopts approach from 1975 to modify regulations • Hires workers with disabilities on staff from 1982, well before 1987 law

CCOS already had training tools for volunteers, but René Le Guen wants to go further with IFOREP creation in 1971.

Created under the law of 5 July 1971, requiring all companies with over ten employees to dedicate 1.1% of payroll to training.

• Create a kind of ENA for the working class • Train elite of electricians and gas workers • Enable access to highest functions and responsibilities • Spirit of popular education movement

IFOREP means Institute of Training, Research and Promotion. It is an instrument of worker emancipation through knowledge.

• Builds relationships with similar organizations from 1967: Poland, Italy, Morocco • In 1990s, structures genuine international solidarity policy • Supports projects in fifty countries across four continents • In 2006, organizes colony welcoming Israeli and Palestinian children

Leading live performance distributor in France with over 1,700 annual interventions, 1,200 theater, music, dance, and street arts shows.

• CGT has been on Cannes Festival board since its origin in 1946 • Gérard Philipe is secretary general of actors union • Michèle Morgan and Jean-Paul Belmondo are CGT members • CCAS and Cannes share long history

• Since 2002, Social Visions at Mandelieu-la-Napoule miners castle selects films on social themes • Free admission, no reservation, 5,000 participants yearly • Helps young filmmakers finance debut films • In Avignon, Counter-Current offers theater, dance, music with disability access since 2007

• Since 1980s, the Thirty Glorious Years are over • Crisis becomes permanent • Europe gradually imposes liberal standards • French public service model called into question

• In 2005, EDF changes status and is partially privatized • GDF merges with Suez group • Framework that enabled CCAS birth and expansion no longer truly exists

• Budget indexed on increasingly opaque EDF-GDF revenue • Estimated shortfall over 100 million euros • Payroll exceeds 40% of budget • 2009 purchase of CIAT for 84 million euros worsens difficulties

• In 2007, denounces management opacity, tax and labor law violations • Judges system 'bloated and costly' • In 2010, financial situation deemed 'considerably degraded,' management not rigorous

• Sixteen individuals and several organizations including CGT, its energy federation, and L'Humanité stand trial • Charged with fictitious jobs benefiting Communist Party and CGT • IFOREP services judged to lack real countervalue

Film footage capture of Fête de l'Humanité over eight years billed for approximately 1.1 million euros entirely covered by CCAS without real countervalue.

• Court dismisses fraud and personal enrichment charges • Convicts eight individuals and four organizations • Grounds: abuse of trust, receiving stolen goods, or complicity

CCAS itself reached out to present this story, insisting on importance of speaking openly about everything that happened without sweeping it under the rug.

Institution born from war's wreckage, carried by men and women convinced that emancipation could be built from below, by and for workers.

• An electrician or gas worker deserved to take vacation and see the sea for the first time • Right to attend opera, learn, receive healthcare, and age with dignity • Emancipation also passes through knowledge

• Sent tens of thousands of children to vacation colonies • Enabled families to take vacations • Opened libraries, created festivals • Integrated people with disabilities when no one else thought of it • Trained generations of workers who became managers • Wove solidarity links to Cambodia and Palestine

Most ambitious company committee in Europe, unique social experiment proving that when workers are given means to manage their own social and cultural life, absolutely remarkable things can happen.