Industrial relations in New Caledonia: context and focus on the Kanak Indigenous people’s labour struggle in the background of the politics of reconciliation and decolonisation

Abstract

This article examines industrial relations in New Caledonia with a focus on Indigenous labour. Caledonian industrial relations are absent from English speaking industrial relations literature. Therefore, the first objective of this article is to provide a general introduction to the broad industrial relations context including an overview of the political economy; key features of the labour market; labour market regulation and labour issues. The second objective is to provide historical and contemporary insights on the Kanak labour struggle and political (anti-colonial) activism. The research is informed by interviews in 2011 and 2014 and ongoing participant observation among Kanak political forces. Our argument is twofold. First, Caledonian industrial relations are politicised within the politics of reconciliation – the political platform for a so-called common destiny. Second, the politics of reconciliation have been deployed in response to the long-lasting indigenous struggle for sovereignty, with Kanak organised labour at the forefront of this struggle.

Keywords:

• New Caledonia
• industrial relations
• Kanak Indigenous people
• labour struggle
• reconciliation decolonisation

Notes

1. As in France, union ‘representativity’ is measured by unions’ scores at professional elections at workplace level. It does have a systemic impact on union competition as you need to get over 5% to remain officially ‘representative’ and above all government subsidies are proportionate to the score, up to US$20,000 for each 500 votes in New Caledonia.

2. Annual reports are available on the DTENC website:http://www.dtenc.gouv.nc/portal/page/portal/dte/librairie/fichiers/26846252.PDF

3. http://www.dtenc.gouv.nc/portal/page/portal/dte/librairie/fichiers/26846255.PDF

4. Institut de la statistique et des études économiques, Nouvelle-Calédonie, http://www.isee.nc/

5. Direction du Travail et de l’Emploi de Nouvelle-Calédonie (DTENC), http://www.dtenc.gouv.nc

6. Institut pour le Développement des Compétences en Nouvelle-Calédonie, http://idcnc.nc/.

7. The Labour Law (Article Lp. 112.1) is prohibiting any form of discrimination and the Bureau of the Labour Ombudsman does not report any particular incidence of grievances relating to gender discrimination.

8. Rapport sur les orientations budgétaires, 2012–2014, Gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, http://www.gouv.nc/portal/pls/portal/docs/1/28420254.PDF

9. Business Advantage, New Caledonia/Nouvelle-Calédonie 2010–2011, http://www.businessadvantagenewcaledonia.com/

10. http://www.ispf.pf/themes/EmploiRevenus/NiveauVie.aspx

11. Such as the implementation of a ‘social GST’ or even claims for a direct tax on mining extraction in New Caledonia: ‘$0.5 per pound of nickel extracted to generate funding for future generations and sustainable development’ (USOENC 2010).

12. http://ustke.org/statuts/statuts-ustke/Statuts-de-lUSTKE-at_131.html

13. http://ustke.org/communiques/b.c/Discours-de-M.P-Goyetche-lors-du-1er-mai-2012-au-siege-du-syndicat-(VDT)-at_239.html

14. As early as 1984, the Socialist President François Mitterrand was to say: ‘Independence, never, partition at worst’. In his speech to overseas French territories at La Réunion, 2010, Nicolas Sarkozy reinstated: ‘There’s only one line drawn in the sand: this line is independence. French overseas territories are French and will stay French’. And lastly in the same vein, March 2012, François Hollande was to declare: ‘The France that I love, that you love, is a France that is able to get diversity living together. There is not a plurality of France in conflict. There is no such thing, there is the Republic, the French Republic, one indivisible and secular. And the Republic is not afraid of diversity’ (Graff 2012).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stéphane Le Queux

Stéphane Le Queux is an Industrial Relations scholar and is leading a research program on employment, labour politics and capacity building in New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

Stéphanie Graff

Stéphanie Graff recently completed her PhD in Anthropology of Development at the Institut des Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement, Geneva. She is an expert on the question of indigenous peoples’ rights, self-determination and decolonisation and is working as Political Advisor in New Caledonia.