About the F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T
The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T is one of the federations of the French CFDT confederation. As a federation, the F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T has 77 local unions whose members are workers from the Building, Building materials, Wood sectors.
Building workers -including bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers, painters, crane drivers, steel fixers, operators, as well as construction laborers and trades assistants are members of our local unions. Some of the FNCB-CFDT members also work off-site in brick, tile and pottery manufacturing and in furnishing industry.
At the national level the F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T negotiate with the employers federation the national sectorial agreement.
A professional and confederated trade unionism
The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T considers trade unionism as bringing together all the workers who are determined to defend their common interests and to improve it situation at work, in other words, workers who are concerned with both general and professional interests.
This type of unionism rejects corporatism and includes all workers, be they laborers, employee or white-collar workers.
Trade unionism for social transformation
The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T develops an “acting” type of trade unionism. Social changes shall not be expected only from politics. We constantly search for consistency between social and social progress revendications, proposed solutions and transformation goals. This also presupposes an approach to professional relations, focused on a contractual mode of confrontation and negotiation. Strikes are seen as one of means of going ahead in negotiation.
Trade unionism focused on collective bargaining
The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T promotes voluntary negotiations between employers or employers’ organizations and workers’ organizations, with a view to the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by means of collective agreements. Collective bargaining process must be set up at different levels, from the industry branch to the company and from the national level to the regional level.
Trade unionism for all
The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T wants a trade unionism for workers in big or medium sized enterprises, as well as in very small enterprises. In the French Building and Wood sectors, more than 500 000 people work in companies that employ less than 10 workers.
The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T has undertaken reflections and actions to develop its presence as a trade union in the constantly growing number of small enterprises in our country, as well as in each professional sector.
Work safe !
The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T considers improving health and safety rights at work as its priority. The union encourages its members to carry out surveys among workers in their companies. While taking part in risk assessment in their companies, workers play an active role in the organization of their work. They have an impact on improving health and safety at work, as well as on achieving a higher quality of products and services.
Vocation Skills and lifelong training
The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T campaigns and negotiates in order to raise the skills of the work force in the Building and the Wood sectors. The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T negotiates collective agreements in the branch of industry and in the companies in order to have vocational skills recognized and paid.
The organization negotiates the introduction of training levies and others initiatives aimed at increasing the number of apprentices and traineeships. It puts forward campaigns aimed at speeding up the access of young people in the industry. Apprentices must be trained and not just used as cheap labor. As any worker, they have a right to a safe and healthy work environment and to decent pay and financial conditions.
The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T works at negotiating better wages and social protection for apprentices.
A high level of protection
The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T aims at guaranteeing the social protection of workers in the long run:
- By giving an equal access to entitlements to everyone in the whole country and throughout ones life: in health related issues, this means defining a new form of coverage care and generalizing complementary coverage.
- Defending and consolidating a distributive type of retirement system in a long term perspective.
Building a European and International trade unionism fighting for social rights and solidarity
The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T is a member of E.F.B.W.W (European Federation of Building and Wood Workers) which works towards consolidating and extending the European model of development. At the European level, unions have conquered and developed news areas of intervention within the European workers committees. We must neglect no means – negotiations, demonstrations, and lobbying, social labels- in order to reach a fair social regulation in the E.U and respect of social rights in multinational corporations wherever they operate.
The F.N.C.B-C.F.D.T is also member of BWI (Building and Wood International). Global solidarity must be a tool for creating strong trade unions in all countries, particularly in developing countries and also in non democratic ones.
We undertake to act in enterprises from within and from outside, to incite them to take the path of sustainable development and to fully assume their social responsibilities.
Multinational corporations in particular must become the vectors of a more controlled and more solidarity-based globalization.