L'avenir ne tombera pas du ciel
Jean-Luc Cohen
1998 - 52 min - Betacam SP - Couleur - France

For 8 months Jean-Luc Cohen's camera discreetly accompanied Emmanuel Poirier, union representative of the SCR, the Troyes subsidiary of the Eiffage Group, in his everyday life. With a 35 billion franc turnover and about 30,000 workers and 550 independant companies spread out all over the country, the Eiffage Group is one of the biggest in the French public building and work sector.
Like a big brother, Emmanuel Poirier decided to take the hesitant workforce under his wing and seriously address the problems concerning their working terms and conditions. At the heart of their rumbling discontent were the desire for retirement at 55 and work related wages. The preparation of a strike and national protest on the 17th November 1997 in Paris supplies the film director with a vital lead for this far from usual portrait.