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French labor unions have often been presented as indifferent to the environment. Yet, ever since the end of the Second World War, union archives attest to its concern for issues such as management of ‘natural resources’, occupational health or urban planning. These concerns became more specific in the 1950s and 1960s when trade unionists were confronted with environmental damage, especially in the colonial context. Consequently, the unions worked out policies of economic planning, including on environmental issues. In the meantime, unions carried out actions in the workplace and neighborhoods against pollution. Thinking about workers’ surroundings gradually came into play, This notion became the union’s counterpart to the ‘technocratic invention of the environment’ in companies and public institutions.