From agenda setting to reflux: Trade union leaders and mental suffering at work (1950-1982)

Abstract

When and how did the theme of occupational mental suffering emerge within trade unions and how did trade unionists address the issue? To answer this question, this article looks at the technical advisers of the union directorates in charge of working conditions between 1950 and 1982. It shows that the theme of occupational mental suffering became a social problem and a trade union concern in the 1950s, in connection with the situation of low-skilled female employees and, later on, of factory workers in the 1960s. This theme emerged with the transformation of research on occupational health carried out by scientists close to the social movement and major worker mobilisations, which made occupational health a political issue. Within the confederal directorates, this subject was put on the agenda at the end of the 1960s by technical advisers supported by these militant scientists. This article thus underlines the importance of social mobilisation and collaboration with scientists in the emergence of the theme of occupational mental suffering, but also of technical advisers bringing it onto the agenda within the confederal directorates. It also highlights the fact that the construction of union demands and actions on this subject, as well as its reflux from the mid-1970s, is closely linked to the internal stakes of these organisations and their strategic priorities.