The meaning of work in the French Red Cross: A cause and a job[Le sens du travail à la Croix-Rouge française. Entre engagement pour la cause et engagement dans le travail]

Looking at paid and volunteer staff in the French Red Cross (CRF), the article highlights the contradictions and ambivalence inherent in the meaning of work in social and solidarity economy organizations. For skilled paid employees, working in the CRF is clearly a rational choice, while for others (skilled and unskilled) it is a constrained choice due to the absence of an alternative in the local labor market. For the volunteers, the meaning of the commitment to the CRF definitely has various dimensions (vocation, career and the search for identity) and is closely tied with personal development. However, there is one feeling organizations. For skilled paid employees, working in the CRF is clearly a rational choice, while for others (skilled and unskilled) it is a constrained choice due to the absence of an alternative in the local labor market. For the volunteers, the meaning of the commitment to the CRF definitely has various dimensions (vocation, career and the search for identity) and is closely tied with personal development. However, there is one feeling that is largely shared by all the volunteers, both elected officers and volunteers working on the ground. In their daily work, volunteers feel they are subject to growing demands for professionalization and requirements very much like those for paid staff (workloads, flexibility and meeting standards).