| Edmond Maire | |
| Office: | General Secretary of the CFDT |
| Term Start: | 1971 |
| Term End: | 1988 |
| Predecessor: | Eugène Descamps |
| Successor: | Jean Kaspar |
| Birth Date: | 24 January 1931 |
| Birth Place: | Épinay-sur-Seine, France |
| Death Place: | France |
| Nationality: | French |
| Education: | Lycée Jacques-Decour |
| Children: | Jacques Maire |
Edmond Maire (in French pronounced as /ɛdmɔ̃ mɛːʁ/; 24 January 1931 – 1 October 2017) was a French labor union leader. He was the secretary general of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) from 1971 to 1988. He was dismissive of strike actions and supported a more equal division of labour.
Edmond Maire was born on 24 January 1931 in Épinay-sur-Seine near Paris.[1] [2] [3] His father was a railroad employee for the SNCF at the Gare du Nord, and his mother was a housewife.[1] He was raised as a devout Roman Catholic alongside six siblings.[1]
Maire was educated at the Collège-lycée Jacques-Decour in Paris and did not go to university.[1] He began working at 18 and took evening classes in chemistry at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers.[1] He subsequently did his military service.[1]
Maire began his career as a chemist for Pechiney in Aubervilliers near Paris.[1] He quit his job to focus on activism. After he retired from the CFDT, he became the chief executive of Villages Vacances Familles, a chain of affordable holiday villages later known as Belambra Clubs.[2]
Maire first joined the French Confederation of Christian Workers in 1954.[1] [2] In 1964, he was a co-founder of a secular splinter group, the French Democratic Confederation of Labour.[3] [2] Maire succeeded Eugène Descamps as the secretary general of the CFDT from 1971 to 1988.[1] [2] [3] He took on a more centrist approach, which led more left-wing labour leaders like Jacques Julliard to criticize him.[4] For example, Maire dismissed strike actions as "old labour mythology."[4] Instead, he was a proponent of a more equal division of labour.[4] In 1981, he complained that French public intellectuals were not sufficiently supportive of his efforts.[5] He was succeeded by Jean Kaspar.[2] [3]
Maire joined the Socialist Party in 1974.[2] He was close to Pierre Mendès France, Michel Rocard and Jacques Delors.[5] He was a supporter of the 35-hour workweek passed by the Socialist government under Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in 2000.[2]
Maire died on 1 October 2017.[1] [2] [3] One of his sons, Jacques Maire, is a member of the National Assembly for En Marche![3]
Upon his death, Muriel Pénicaud, the French Minister of Labour, tweeted that Maire "transformed and inspired industrial relations."[3]