Why French trade unions wield political clout despite low membership

A protester during a demonstration called by unions against the French government's pension reform plan, as part of the eighth day of national strikes and protests, in Ancenis-Saint-Gereon, France, on 15 March 2023. © REUTERS - STEPHANE MAHE

Trade union membership in France has been declining since the 1980s and is now one of the lowest in western Europe. And yet unions can still mobilise widespread strikes and demos, as the recent pension reform protests proved. What's behind this French paradox?

At the height of recent protests against the government’s pension reforms, trade unions got more than a million people onto the streets.