Bernard Thibault
Bernard Thibault, born in 1959, was the secretary of the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) between 1999 and 2013, a French workers' union. He represents the moderate wing of the CGT, as opposed to the more radical wing noted in Marseilles' trade union.

Bernard Thibault was born on January 2, 1959 in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, from a family hailing from the Morvan area.

At the age of 15, he entered the SNCF apprenticeship centre in Noisy-le-Sec, which he left in 1976 with a qualification in general mechanics. He was then hired by the SNCF yard at Paris-la-Villette. In 1977, he joined the Confédération générale du travail, and was put in charge of the union's "Young workers commission". In 1980, he became secretary of the union in his train yard, and was later elected secretary of the CGT for all rail workers of the Eastern Paris railroad network.

During the strikes of Fall 1986, he provided the impetus for the start of the strikes and is credited with forwarding the principle of coordinated strikes, which the unions had until then been reluctant to adopt. He promoted integrating non-unionist strikers into the decision process, which was largely left to general assemblies of workers at the local level (a practice that was repeated during the large 1995 strikes). He was at the time considered one of the main figures of the strike and a symbol of the renewal of the CGT.

In 1987, he joined the French Communist Party and, shortly thereafter, the CGT federal office for rail workers. In 1997, he was appointed to the confederal office. During the 46th Congress of the CGT in January–February 1999, he succeeded to Louis Viannet as the head of the confederation. He also resigned his national responsibilities in the Communist Party, to fight the idea that the unions were the force driving the party.

Thanks to his comparatively young age, and to the economic recovery in France at the end of the 20th century, he managed to counter the sag in CGT members. The internal tensions in the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail brought about by the Fillon retirement law prompted members to switch unions and reinforce the CGT.

However, Thibault's efforts to push the CGT towards a more reformist stance, as witnessed for instance during the strikes of November 2007, was met with resistance within the leadership of the union, which for example did not give a voting directive to its members for the 2005 referendum on the European Constitution.
Q1125638
Confédération Générale du Travail
MEDIA
Q3508274
French
UNK
Q178790
workers' union
Concept
Q23482
Marseilles
LOC
Q245546
6th arrondissement of Paris
LOC
Q586512
Morvan
LOC
Q13646
SNCF
ORG
Q370224
Noisy-le-Sec
LOC
Q13646
SNCF
ORG
Q1125638
Confédération générale du travail
MEDIA
Q93874
Eastern Paris railroad network
LOC
Q192821
French Communist Party
ORG
Q1125605
Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail
MEDIA
Q822730
Bernard Thibault
PER
Q822730
Bernard Thibault
PER
1959-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1959
DATE
1999-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1999
DATE
2013-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2013
DATE
1959-01-02T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
January 2, 1959
DATE
1976-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1976
DATE
1977-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1977
DATE
1980-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1980
DATE
1986-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1986
DATE
1995-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1995
DATE
1987-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1987
DATE
1997-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1997
DATE
1999-02-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
February 1999
DATE
2007-11-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
November 2007
DATE
2005-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2005
DATE
+6^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
6
NUMBER
+15^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
15
NUMBER
+46^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
46
NUMBER
+20^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
20
NUMBER
date of birth
employer
employer
member of political party