IG Metall, the world’s biggest sectoral trade union with 2.3 million members is about to renew its management team. On 14 July management at the union designated its candidate to succeed the current President, Detlef Wetzel aged 62. Their candidate, Jörg Hofmann aged 59, is the current number 2; between 2003 and 2013 he headed up the powerful Baden-Württemberg Federation and crafted decisive collective agreements for the metals sector. This news is not a departure from the norm, however for the first time in IG Metall’s history, the trade union’s second in command will be a female in the form of Christiane Benner aged 47; a specialist in the area of digital transformation with respect to the world of work. The decision to have two professionals at the helm indicates IG Metall’s will to have a pragmatic forward thinking team ready to defend all of its workers’ interest in the digital age. Both designated candidates need to secure election to their positions in a vote by some 500 IG Metall delegates during the national congress between October 18-24 in Frankfurt.
A pragmatic and experienced negotiator. Following in the footsteps of the current president Detlef Wetzel, Jörg Hofmann, the union’s second in command since November 13 and former leader of the Baden-Württemberg Federation is a skillful negotiator, practical and flexible with great experience. He is known for the famous “Pforzheim agreement” that gave companies the right, for the first time, to put aside, on a temporary basis only, provisions in branch collective agreements during crisis situat
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