2023-09-08 08:17:20
She was a historic figure of Force Ouvrière (FO), the union to which she had given her whole life, with unfailing dedication and generosity, revolted by poverty and driven by the desire to “pull up those who are below”. Confederal secretary of FO from 1974 to 1996, Paulette Hofman died, following a multitude of health problems, on September 4, at her home in Paris, a few days before her 92nd birthday.
In recent months, she confided to her rare visitors her desire to ” leave “. ” I can not stand it anymore “, she said, without ever complaining. She adopted General Charette’s formula as her own, “tired often, disappointed sometimes, discouraged never”. “Hospitable in her heart, militant in her gutsreacted Jean-Claude Mailly, former secretary general of FO, she was the grande dame of collective bargaining. »
Born on September 10, 1931 in Wattignies (North) into a working-class family, Paulette Hofman lived in a house near the courtyards where tiny housing units were lined up. She discovers poverty. “The houses were as well kept as possible, with white sand thrown on the tiles, she said. This is where I learned solidarity. » She began working in 1947 and joined the University Hospital Center (CHU) of Lille in 1952 as a medical secretary.
” I had the chance, she remembered, to come across a pulmonologist boss who taught me everything”ensuring that, rich or poor, a sick person is surrounded, followed, supported, ” has equality ». She cannot bear to see children suffer, let alone die. “I had the rage of impotence and I still have it”, she confided. In 1964, she joined hospital executives, and in 1970, the medical affairs department. She meets a professor of medicine who will be her great love but dies prematurely. At FO, she kept his photo on her desk.
Strong personality
The 1is September 1952, Paulette Hofman, a non-member left-wing woman, friend of the socialist Pierre Mauroy, joined FO. In 1974, at the Toulouse congress, she joined the confederal office and took charge of collective bargaining, women, family policy, wages, social housing, disability – from 1986 to 1991 she chaired the Association of Management of funds for the professional integration of disabled people – and working conditions.
With a strong personality, Paulette Hofman does not “don’t let anyone step on your toes”. With firmness, she stood up to the employers, but also to her general secretaries, André Bergeron, then Marc Blondel, and to the few « males » that she meets at FO. Single, smoker and good-natured, she lives with her mother, Blanche, whom she adores. If she protests against the effects of the crisis – “Before we negotiated to move forward, now we negotiate so as not to go backwards” –, she signed in November 1989 an agreement on working conditions. “Working force, she says, cannot admit, even in times of crisis, that (…) the lives of employees serve as currency for the imperatives of competitiveness and productivity. »
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