Foreign workers in the French labour courts

During the interwar period, France adopted a new social legislation on unemployment benefits, social insurances, family allowances and paid leaves. In the same period, labour conditions of foreign workers improved thanks to the signature of bilateral labour treaties with several emigration countries and the adoption of the first ILO conventions. Yet little is known to date about how foreigners actually embraced their legal entitlements in the host country. This chapter explores how migrant workers in France “used” local labour courts (prud’hommes councils) to claim social rights during the interwar period. Judicial sources enable us to gain a better understanding of the position of foreigners within the micro-economic framework, the solidarities that emerged among workers and the roles played by trade unions, foreign diplomacy and international law in defence of migrant workers. The French prud’hommes constituted a peculiar kind of labour court, their judges were elected equally among workers and employers and the judicial procedure was both cheap and rapid. Because of this specific configuration, labour justice became an important arena for the recognition and the implementation of new social rights during the interwar period. The chapter sheds light on the concrete involvement of migrant workers in this historical process.