Bernard Thibault re-elected as head of biggest trade union
For the fourth consecutive time Bernard Thibault was re-elected head of the CGT, the country's biggest trade union. This comes despite accusations that Thibault was soft on Sarkozy's right-wing reforms.
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AFP - French union leader Bernard Thibault was re-elected Friday as head of the nation's biggest trade union after fending off attacks that he has gone soft on President Nicolas Sarkozy's reforms.
The 50-year-old, who sports a Beatles haircut and has been the face of French labour activism over the past decade, won a fourth three-year mandate as head of the CGT, the Confederation Generale du Travail.
Under Thibault's 10-year leadership, the CGT broke off ties with the French Communist Party, went through several internal shakeups and set its sights on a one-million-strong membership. It currently has 655,000.
He was elected by union members after a week-long congress in the western city of Nantes.
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