 the french democratic confederation of labour (, cfdt) is a national trade union center, one of the five major french confederations of trade unions, led since 2002 by franÃ§ois chÃ©rÃ¨que. it is the largest french trade union confederation by number of members (875,000) but comes only second after the confÃ©dÃ©ration gÃ©nÃ©rale du travail (cgt) in voting results for representative bodies. == history == the cfdt was created in 1964 when a majority of the members of the christian trade union confÃ©dÃ©ration franÃ§aise des travailleurs chrÃ©tiens (cftc) decided to become secular. the minority kept the name cftc. at first, under the lead of eugÃ¨ne descamps, the cfdt presented itself like a social-democratic confederation close to the unified socialist party (parti socialiste unifiÃ© or psu) which was led by pierre mendÃ¨s-france. it came to terms with the cgt, which was dominated by the communist party. this alliance took a part in the may 68 upheaval. then, the cfdt was auto-gestionary. in 1974, many psu and cfdt members joined the socialist party (parti socialiste or ps) led by franÃ§ois mitterrand. behind michel rocard, they formed an internal opposition called "the second left". they abandoned the auto-gestionary project and advocated an alignment on the european social-democracy. in the same time, under the lead of edmond maire, the cfdt cut its links with the cgt. in the 1980s, after franÃ§ois mitterrand's election and his choice to follow socialist economic policies, the cfdt appeared like a pro-governmental organization. during this time a lot of members and voters were lost. in the 1990s, under the lead of nicole notat, the cfdt chose a strategy of independence towards ps. in this, it supported alain juppÃ©'s plan of welfare state reform. it replaced fo like "main partner" of employers and right-wing governments, and to the presidence of social security offices. in 2003, the support of the new cfdt leader [[:fr:franÃ§ois_chÃ©rÃ¨que|fra
1964_establishments_in_France European_Trade_Union_Confederation National_trade_union_centers_of_France Trade_unions_established_in_1964