Thriving in the Lost Paradigm: Social Movement Unionism in France Page 1 of 10 THRIVING IN THE LOST PARADIGM: SOCIAL MOVEMENT UNIONISM IN FRANCE

At a time when Australian labour think-tanks are reconsidering the roadmap, this paper offers a contrast based on French labour politics, which have been evolving in quite a different fashion over the last decade or so. After providing a few insights into the French industrial relations system, particular attention is given to the alter-globalisation movement and a new born trade union Solidaires, Unitaires et Démocratiques (SUD) which altogether epitomise forces at play in France. It is suggested that if social-movement unionism is not an apparent relevant option for Australia, this is still a strategic paradigm to reckon with and be considered. For a decade, Australian trade unions have been striving under heavy handed institutional challenges. Within such an „adverse ‟ context the ACTU has engineered and driven the counter strategies of the union movement. Their early organising campaign was pretty much a copy of the AFL-CIO initiative. Likewise, the new ACTU blue print draws on a mix of North-American and British experiences (Forsyth, 2007) and by doing so, as this paper highlights, is keeping the strategic mindset within the same paradigmatic framework. Coincidentally, in the same period, French industrial relations have been rocked by on-going social irruptions. Back in the early 1990s, French experts were about to toll the bell for trade unions. For many, it was a dead-dog, till the first bite. The general strike of 1995, was shortly followed by another general strike i