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This paper based on a survey carried out among employees of the great trade in Paris deals with the relation to trade-unionism and forms of activism through a generational perspective. Few are trade-unionists, exposed to little qualified jobs, this professionnal sector becomes sometimes the theatre of mobilizations. Recent social movements and the appearance of new militant networks show at the same time the development of social protest and the will that the labour rights cover this sector more widely. In this type of company, the expansion of graduate salaried, according to the massification of education, to strong unemployment rates, and to the elevation of levels of recruitment, shows the possibility for changes concerning the available resources for collective action and the development of trade-unionism.