The Third Republic: Building Modern Labor Relations

The Third Republic (1870-1940) constructed the framework of modern French labor relations. The 1884 Waldeck-Rousseau law finally legalized trade unions, ending nearly a century of prohibition. Unlike Anglo-Saxon unions organized by craft or industry, French unions developed along ideological lines—socialist, communist, Christian, and reformist—reflecting the political nature of French worker consciousness.

This period also saw the emergence of the unique French institution of prudhommes—labor courts with equal representation of workers and employers, judging individual workplace disputes. Dating back to Napoleon I but expanded under the Third Republic, these courts embody the French preference for formal, legally structured resolution of labor conflicts rather than purely market-based solutions.

The state increasingly mediated between labor and capital. The 1892 law limiting women and children to eleven-hour workdays marked the beginning of comprehensive labor legislation. The 1906 law establishing a weekly day of rest—fiercely opposed by employers—demonstrated that the state would enforce social values even at economic cost. These interventions established precedents for the extensive labor code that governs French workplaces today.