(Paris) Five French unions wrote to Solidarnosc to criticize the “support” expressed to Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour by the website Tysol, “Official media” of the famous Polish union, said Thursday the National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions (UNSA) which “is indignant at this support”.
In this letter dated December 7, the unions CFDT, CGT, CFTC, FO and UNSA explain having had “the unpleasant surprise” of discovering the opening of the site. Tysol, “Official Solidarnosc media, dedicated to France”, after the last mid-term conference of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
“The cover of your Tygodnik magazine with Marine Le Pen and the laudatory articles on Éric Zemmour, both French presidential candidates and placed on the extreme right of the political spectrum as well as the editorial line of the French version of your site Tysol reflect a political bias, to which the French trade union organizations do not adhere ”, write the five signatories.
“These initiatives contravene the principle of the independence of the trade union movement with regard to political movements”, add the French trade unionists.
The latter underline that “fundamental values and mutual respect between trade union organizations affiliated to the same international confederation are a condition which cannot be subject to any adjustment whatsoever”.
According to the UNSA, which published the letter on its Twitter account, “a common process for clarification and appropriate sanction, which may go as far as exclusion, has been initiated within the ETUC”.
“This whole situation is surprising and shocking for us, because the weekly Solidarnosc – of course we are its owner – […] and its publisher have their own autonomy and their own editorial policy, ”Solidarity union spokesperson Marek Lewandowski told AFP. “The Solidarity union is something else,” he said.
“We will continue on our way and if we have to suffer consequences because of this, we will suffer them”, he also affirmed.
The ETUC represents 45 million members of 89 national trade union organizations in 39 European countries as well as ten European trade union federations.
Founded during the Cold War by Lech Walesa, at the time a simple electrician and union leader of the Gdansk shipyards, the Solidarity union was at the origin of the fall of the communist regime in Poland.
Lech Walesa received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and was president of his country between 1990 and 1995.