ABSTRACT
Technology was seen as "a progressive force, an agent of social transformation" and as a "tool for transcending capitalist society"-transcending capitalist society being one of the constant preoccupations of the major workers' organizations in France. It was not until the 1970s-more precisely in 1975-that the unions' analyses of technology began to take full account of the material effects of technology on the organization of work. To start with the technological reasons, the present pace of technological development means that any given technology is likely to become obsolete fairly quickly, so that firms must plan their investments carefully. Institutionally labor contracts in France usually cover an entire branch of industry. Politically the unions began discussing technological issues during the second half of the 1970s, a time when the business community in France was attempting to use the economic crisis as a pretext for shifting the balance of power in its favor.
