Edmond Maire

Edmond Maire (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. His father was a railroad employee for the SNCF at the Gare du Nord, and his mother was a housewife. He was raised as a devout Roman Catholic alongside six siblings. Maire was educated at the Collège-lycée Jacques-Decour in Paris and did not go to university. He began working at 18 and took evening classes in chemistry at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers. He subsequently did his military service. Maire began his career as a chemist for Pechiney in Aubervilliers near Paris. 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 vil...