Union Syndicale’s survival will depend on its ability to adapt to change and to strengthen ties with its members.
“Union Syndicale’s survival will depend on its ability to adapt to change and to strengthen ties with its members.”
The spirit of belonging, the pride of being a modest brick in the construction of Europe have been replaced by the feeling of doing the same thing as one would do in a bank or a factory.
How can we rebuild trade unionism in these circumstances? Several avenues are opening up before us: new technologies are disrupting the now digitalized communication model between the union’s bodies and its members. The creation of discussion groups, sectoral or local, is an indispensable element to counter the tendency to dispersion that results from teleworking and the multiplication of workplaces. It also allows the rise of new ideas and more active militancy.
Our late Ludwig Schubert, the father of the method of salary adjustment for civil servants and other agents of the European institutions, once told me that the first trade union demonstration at the Commission was organized by a dozen people who stood in front of the office of the competent commissioner with a radio cassette player that played Ode to Joy.
A naive image, seen from a distance, that sets the tone of a bygone era: gone is the benevolent administration that protected its employees. Now, an increasingly hostile administration is pushing towards casualization, interpreting the Staff Regulations in an increasingly restrictive manner and limiting union freedom.


One of Union Syndicale’s proudest achievements is its ability to provide legal support to colleagues in difficulty. We must maintain this capacity to accompany them to the last instance, without becoming an insurance company in which the member only remembers the existence of US when he/she needs it. It is absolutely necessary to have an activist base that is aware of what is going on. Extensive discussions on the different subjects are of fundamental importance, not least with a view to preparing possible legal actions.
We are about to face fundamental changes in the very content of our missions. With the help of new technologies, remote work, whether part-time or full-time, is becoming widespread. Virtual meetings are taking over from informal conversations in the hallways or the coffee bar. Paperless working practi alienate the staff member’s relationship with his files, which is sometimes limited putting a tick in a computerised workflow.
Other aspects of our environment have changed dramatically. The COVID pandemic has only accelerated pre-existing trends: the dispersal of offices and agencies; the anonymity of open spaces; the increase in the number of colleagues on short-term contracts, etc. In short, the survival of the individual is at stake.
In short, Union Syndicale’s survival will depend on its ability to adapt to change and to strengthen ties with its members.

Juan-Pedro Perez-Escanilla
About this Author
General USB’s Secretary from 2016 to 2021