Éric Marguerite, who led the Force Ouvrière union in La Réunion for more than three decades, has died at the age of 71. The former departmental secretary of F.O. passed away during the night of Wednesday 11 to Thursday 12 November 2026, leaving behind an organization he built over 31 years of continuous union work and a successor, Jean-Paul Paquiry, who now carries it forward.
Marguerite took over the leadership of F.O. in 1992 and only stepped down in December 2023, handing the reins to Paquiry. His departure was a deliberate choice, one he explained to Imaz Press in his own words: “At some point you have to know when to stop, you have to know how to leave the place to others and step back.”
His entry into union life was, by his own account, almost accidental. As a young prefecture secretary, he crossed paths with the secretary of the F.O. union at the prefecture, who was carrying a stack of files under his arm, the union’s archives. “He invited me to dive into them with him,” Marguerite recalled. The union itself wrote that he essentially never came back out. He joined the bureau, then took charge of the Union départementale in 1992.
Over three decades, he became one of the central operators of social dialogue on the island. Among the battles that marked him, he cited the large demonstrations of 1997 in defense of civil servants’ acquired rights, specifically the surrémunération. “There was a month of mobilization and we won,” he said. Another fight left a deeper mark: the pensions battle, and its defeat. “After 14 demonstrations, seeing the disappointment among many people, among our comrades, and for retirees in general, it is a real disappointment. But we must only blame ourselves: if we were not strong enough in the street to make ourselves heard, that is the law of the game,” he told Imaz Press.
Beyond the union itself, Marguerite held institutional responsibilities that shaped services on the ground. He was president of the CAF from 2006 to 2016, a period during which, according to his successor, he worked to have the CAF decentralized to Sainte-Marie. He also served as treasurer of Agefos-PME.
Jean-Paul Paquiry, now at the head of the organization, paid a moving tribute. “He is a man who sacrificed himself to lead a life against the battles,” he said, adding that Marguerite “always fought” on the surrémunération of civil servants, often intervening with the confederation at the ministry for the Dom-Tom against the cost of living. “Unfortunately he will not see a certain number of victories that I hope we will win later,” Paquiry said. Visibly moved, he described the loss as “a tsunami crashing down on our organization” and said he intends to continue his predecessor’s work.
Meanwhile, tributes came from across the union and institutional landscape. Jacky Balmine, secretary general of the CGTR in La Réunion, offered his sincere condolences to the family, the close relations and all the militants and comrades of Force Ouvrière, recalling a recent coffee shared with Marguerite in Sainte-Marie alongside another F.O. comrade, Nicolas Carmi. Clara Derfla of the UR 974 saluted above all “the disappearance of a man,” describing how, in their commitments, they meet women and men who precede them, open paths and transmit experience. “His journey will remain an important page of this history that others will continue to write,” she said.
Elected officials joined in. Regional president Huguette Bello wrote that she learned “with emotion” of the death of a man who was for long years the departmental secretary of F.O., recalling his important role in the 2017 mobilization to defend the public service. Department president Cyrille Melchior wrote that Marguerite took an active part in the major evolutions of social dialogue in La Réunion. Alexis Chaussalet called him a “zarboutan des luttes sociales,” remembering their joint work during high school mobilizations and within the COSPAR, the collective of union, political and associative organizations of La Réunion. Katy Hoarau, president of the Medef Réunion, described him as a demanding, loyal and respected social partner whose sense of responsibility was unanimously appreciated around the negotiating table. Harry Morel, president of Sidélec Réunion, saluted the engagement of a Réunionnais in the service of his territory, and said he had lost a faithful friend.
The social dialogue of La Réunion loses with him one of its most striking figures. Imaz Press presents its saddened condolences to his family, his close relations and his union. Whether Paquiry can secure the victories his predecessor will not see, starting with the surrémunération file, is now the question facing the organization.