Edmond Maire

Biography

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 ar...