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The aim of this paper is to analyze the genesis, the internal organization and the adaptation of the UIMM (the metallurgical and mining industries union) to the economic, social and political transformations as well as to the upheavals engendered by World War I and the economic crisis. Succeeding in federating common interests, it became essential in the various institutions of the Republic; it participates in the regulation of the labor market, the construction of legislation and the institutional framework as well as in the evolution of professional relations. Its knowledge of the labor movement and its use of various means of action ranging from negotiation to repression enable the UIMM to fight effectively against the salaried labor unions of the metal industry. It became one of the most powerful French business organizations, a position it maintained throughout the 20th century.