Céline Verzeletti (born 7 February 1969) is a French trade unionist, currently member of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT).

Biography

Verzeletti was born in February 1969 in

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

.. She is the daughter of a railway worker who was a CGT activist and a teacher.. She grew up in

Juillan Juillan (; ) is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France. Air Méditerranée has its head office on the property of Tarbes–Lourdes–Pyrénées Airport, in Juillan.Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon language, Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of southwestern France. It is ...

, in the

Hautes-Pyrénées Hautes-Pyrénées (; Gascon/ Occitan: ''Nauts Pirenèus / Hauts Pirenèus'' awts piɾeˈnɛʊs ; alts piɾiˈneʊs ) is a department in the region of Occitania, southwestern France. The department is bordered by Pyrénées-Atlantiques to t ...

. She studied at the Marie-Curie high school in Tarbes. After a few difficult years, she passed the prison administration exam and became a

prison guard A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation ...

. She was active in the Young Communists, then joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

. From 2003 to 2012, she was general secretary of the CGT prison union. In 2015, she became a member of the , where she was responsible for Equality, Trade Union Freedoms and Coordination of Struggles issues. In 2021, she became co-general secretary of the

Federal Union of State Trade Unions The Federal Union of State Trade Unions (, UFSE) is a trade union federation bringing together unions representing workers in the French Civil Service. History The federation was founded in 1909 as the National Federation of Professional Associati ...

(UFSE), a group bringing together around 50,000 union members... She is said to be quite close to

NUPES The New Ecological and Social People's Union (, NUPES) was a left-wing electoral alliance of political parties in France. Formed on May Day 2022, the alliance included La France Insoumise (LFI), the Socialist Party (PS), the French Communist Part ...

and

La France Insoumise La France Insoumise (LFI or FI; , ) is a left-wing political party in France. It was launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It aims to implement th ...

, and announces, in a personal capacity, her participation in demonstrations organized by these political organizations, such as the march against the high cost of living in 2022... In 2023, although she was not a candidate, she was mentioned among the people likely to succeed

Philippe Martinez Philippe Martínez is a French film producer, director, screenwriter, actor, and former President of the Odéon Theater in Marseille. Career From 1988 through 1990, Martinez was President of the Odéon Theater, Marseille. In late 1990, he mov ...

at the head of the confederation, during the 53rd congress in

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

. Philippe Martinez, for his part, wanted to succeed him but against all expectations it was another female trade unionist, Sophie Binet, who was elected as the new general secretary of the CGT. For the

2024 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 30 June and 7 July 2024 (and one day earlier for some voters outside of metropolitan France) to elect all 577 Deputy (France), members of the 17th legislature of th ...

, she was invested by the

New Popular Front The New Popular Front ( , NFP) is a broad Left-wing politics, left-wing electoral alliance with centre-left politics, centre-left and far-left politics, far-left factions in France. It was launched on 10 June 2024 to contest the 2024 French leg ...

in Paris's 15th constituency, allocated to

according to the coalition agreements. The outgoing deputy of this constituency, Danielle Simonnet, was not reinvested by her party like four other outgoing LFI deputies, who announced that they would maintain their candidacies. Danielle Simonnet was re-elected in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

with 74.5% of the vote, against Céline Verzeletti.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verzeletti, Céline Living people 1969 births Prison officers French Communist Party members French women in politics Women trade unionists Candidates for the 2024 French legislative election Members of the General Confederation of Labour (France)