Abstract

Nearly all participatory experiments in France prior to May 1981 were employer-sponsored, which meant that in principle they met with opposition from the trade unions. In a few cases, company unions joined in such experiments and sometimes directed them. Usually such experiments entailed granting some power, initiative and decision-making to workers on very specific and circumscribed issues. These experiments took several forms such as: 1) Research Groups on Improving Working Conditions (ERACT). established by the employer's federation of the mining and metallurgical industries (UIMM) in the 1970s, whose task was to develop, in cooperation with workers, measures for improving working conditions; 2) Quality Circles, which are based onjapanese models;