As protests against pensions reform continue, France's second biggest trade union – the hardline CGT – on Friday elected its first ever woman leader, reports RFI.
Sophie Binet, 41, emerged as the surprise pick to replace outgoing secretary general Philippe Martinez following a long night of deliberations.
Binet's election came at the end of the CGT's congress, which opened on Monday in the Alps, with some 1,000 union members gathering for the leadership tussle.
The former school supervisor has been described as the "compromise" candidate after frontunners Marie Buisson, representing the outgoing team, and Céline Verzeletti, a former prison warden, failed to win cross-party support.
Binet, who champions environmental issues and gender equality, is the head of the union's UGICT division representing engineers, managers and technical staff.