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This article examines the conditions under which the new representation bodies for French employees, the Social and Economic Committees (CSE), were set up and how changes were assimilated by comparing two French urban passenger transport companies. While both have experienced comparable developments in terms of management, one of the public transport companies has public status and the other is private. In both cases, trade unions have previously been able to leverage their close contact, on a day-to-day basis, with front-line employees and their subsequent ability to highlight problems related to working conditions. To do so, they relied on input from shop stewards and the Health, Safety and Working Conditions Committee (CHSCT). As a result of the introduction of the CSE, the number of mandates and delegation hours has been reduced, weakening this network and undermining worker representation. The study questions whether the status of the company is a useful heuristic key to understanding this situation. While trade unions did obtain more favourable conditions in the public sector than in the private company, these new conditions and the modalities of representation are more significantly influenced by the existence of work configurations where proximity has remained the basis of representation.