French union leader Béatrice Lestic calls for zero tolerance against workplace discrimination, arguing that true equality requires unions to actively create inclusive environments where LGBTQIA+ workers can be themselves without fear.
Her message comes ahead of ETF’s “We are all equally different” conference in Paris on June 27, with registrations still open here.
1. What assessment do you make today of the place of women and minorities in the European workplace?
Europe has progressed, that’s true. Women are more numerous in the job market, and gay and lesbian people are more visible there. But this progress remains incomplete, unequal and fragile. Some minorities, notably transgender people, are still massively discriminated against, especially in hiring. Too often, their professional journey is marked by precariousness, exclusion or rejection.
And for those who have a job, the reality is that of less valued, less paid professions, and a double social penalty. Women, for example, continue to represent a large part of working poor women… and later poor retirees. Pay equality, therefore, remains a daily struggle, not an empty promise.
2. What role can unions play in facing discrimination related to sexual orientation or gender identity, particularly in transportation?
A key, unavoidable role. The transportation sector is a perfect indicator of inequalities. The professions are still extremely gendered: train drivers, bus or truck drivers, airplane pilots… These positions remain dominated by men. Result: women and LGBT+ people are under-represented there, and professions with a strong female presence are less recognised and less paid.
We must break this professional segregation and open access to all professions, regardless of gender. And that goes through education, training, and exemplarity in companies, as well as in unions. Yes, even in our union structures, there are still too few women and minorities in leadership positions. At CFDT, we act, we change things. However, we must go further and faster. Equality is not decreed: it is built.
3. How can we ensure that equality policies become a reality, rather than just words?
Laws are necessary, but they are not enough. We need powerful levers so that texts are applied, controlled, and sanctioned if necessary. And this lever is unions. As long as union organisations don’t fully invest in these issues, don’t push for their application in sectors, companies, and services, progress will remain timid. Too many laws sleep in drawers.
The European directive on salary transparency, for example, is a real opportunity. It’s up to us, unions, to transform it into a lever to make things move. Not tomorrow. Now.
4. What priority actions are needed to guarantee a safe and inclusive professional environment for LGBTQIA+ people?
First priority: zero tolerance for discrimination and violence, whatever they may be — sexist, sexual, homophobic, transphobic. In the transport sector, testimonies exist, and often they remain silent. We must create work environments where everyone feels safe, respected, and legitimate. At CFDT, we act concretely: we train, we sanction if necessary, and we support. This line is clear: there is no place for hatred, exclusion, or contempt.
But we must also open the doors of unionism to LGBTQIA+ people. Their place is in union teams, in bodies, in negotiations. It’s through their commitment, and by supporting them, that we advance the entire working world.
5. What response to the rise of the far right? And what can unions do?
The far right is never the solution. It is always a danger. For workers’ rights, for women, for minorities, for democracy. It’s reaching power everywhere – in Hungary, Poland, the United States, Argentina — it rolls back rights, attacks freedom, stigmatises LGBTQIA+ people, and questions women’s rights. It promotes a closed, authoritarian, patriarchal vision of society.
At CFDT, as at the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) or the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), our position is clear: we fight the far right, its ideas, its speeches, its projects. It is incompatible with the values we carry: solidarity, equality, and emancipation. Unionism is a democratic bulwark. It must remain so, and it must be even stronger in the years to come.
6. What message do you wish to address to LGBTQIA+ people who work in transportation and who may still feel isolated or invisible?
You are not alone. Your place is legitimate. Your voice counts.
The working world is not always a safe space, that’s true. But things are changing, and you are at the heart of this change.
At CFDT, we strive for workplaces where everyone can be themselves, without having to hide or fear consequences.
But this won’t happen without you. Get involved. Join us. Push open doors. Speak up.
We will be there to support you, listen to you, and defend you. Because a union that doesn’t defend all pride doesn’t defend all rights.
And we are united in our pride and in our rights.
