“I’m a bit intimidated,” the head of Chevilly-Larue’s Pasteur nursery school admits with a nervous laugh. She is meeting with Rachel Keke, a member of the National Assembly of France for the left-wing movement France Insoumise. During the next two hours, Keke speaks with the employees at Pasteur about the issues they face: understaffing, low pay, ever longer hours — the usual stuff of a meeting between an elected official and her constituents. But one thing set Keke apart from ordinary politicians: the way she uses her own experience to connect with workers’ problems.

“When I was a chambermaid,” Keke told the nursery staff, “I liked what I was doing, but it didn’t mean I had to let myself be trampled on.”

“You are essential workers,” she reminded her audience. “You have to fight.”