France: Thierry Lepaon, head of the CGT, on the way to the scaffold?

The French CGT (General Confederation of Labour) struggles to try to get out of quicksand in which resulted in its general secretary. Thierry Lepaon must account to his peers on Tuesday at the headquarters of the trade union center in Montreuil, near Paris, for the second time in five days. The revelations of the press on his own lifestyle and certain practices of the CGT never end out but he clings to his chair. Last Friday, facing the confederal office, an executive of ten members, he even managed to get a respite coaxing some leaders of major federations CGT; he tried to negotiate his continued at the head of the union until the end of his term in 2016.

If Thierry Lepaon still refuses to consider his resignation, a director-treasurer of the CGT, he has taken the plunge. Eric Lafont, who validated the costly expenses to renovate the official residence and office of the General Secretary, resigned Tuesday. That should satisfy Lepaon because after the first revelations late October, he confessed "collective fault" while charging Lafont. It is the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné who first had given the amount of work in the apartment near the Bois de Vincennes (105 000) and office (62 000). Thierry Lepaon also pointed to the compensation of 31,000 euros he receives for his departure from the CGT Lower Normandy.

The number of union organization has more trouble convincing the Confederal Executive Commission who hears today. He affair this time somehow the government of the CGT, composed of 56 people. It commissioned a report to the Financial Supervision Commission that should shed light on possible malfunctions. The balance of power between pro and anti-Lepaon in the "government" is difficult to establish but the voices demanding the departure of the Secretary General are increasingly strong. It may not escape the convening of a special meeting of the National Confederal Committee, a kind of union parliament which alone has the power to dismiss Thierry Lepaon. It is also in the image of the CGT continues to chip away. A recent survey of Ifop, 45% of French had a good opinion of the Central in 2013, they are no more than 31% in 2014.