Christiane Benner is to become the first woman to head IG Metall. The union executive and the outgoing chairman nominated them. So far, she has been the Vice-Chairwoman.
Munich/Frankfurt - IG Metall is soon to be led by a woman for the first time. The executive committee of the largest single trade union in Germany nominated the former deputy of the outgoing chairman Jörg Hofmann, Christiane Benner, as a candidate to succeed him. Hofmann himself had proposed the 55-year-old sociologist, IG Metall announced on Tuesday. Chief Treasurer Jürgen Kerner (56), who sits on the supervisory boards of Siemens, Thyssenkrupp and MAN, among others, is to become second chairman. He is considered to be well connected and experienced in labor disputes. His successor as chief financial officer is to be a woman: Nadine Boguslawski (46), who is currently the union's first representative in Stuttgart.
A dual leadership with Benner and the Baden-Württemberg IG Metall boss Roman Zitzelsberger, which was supposed to prevent a tug-of-war over the future leadership, had been shattered. Zitzelsberger recently announced his resignation from a position on the board for health reasons. The model, for which the statutes would have had to be changed, had been met with skepticism among the board and members. It is customary in the union for the number two to move up when the first chairman leaves.
Christiane Benner at an event on May 1, 2022: The former Vice-Chairwoman has now been nominated for the top job. © Andreas Rosar/dpa
Christiane Benner sits on the Supervisory Boards of BMW and Continental
Since 2015, Benner has been the second chairwoman of the powerful industrial union, for which she has worked since 1997. Born in Aachen, she has recently had an impact primarily on the inside. Its tasks included the recruitment of members among employees and students as well as the work of the trade union in the companies. This is an important issue, because IG Metall is striving to increase the participation of its approximately 2.2 million members in collective bargaining and trade union policy. Benner sits on the supervisory boards of BMW and Continental. In recent years, she has helped shape the restructuring of the automotive supplier, which goes hand in hand with the transition to electromobility and leads to cuts in employment.
The leadership of IG Metall will be re-elected at the trade union congress in Frankfurt from 22 to 26 October. Hofmann retires for reasons of age. With him, four of the seven members of the Executive Board are no longer running. The Executive Board is to be reduced to five members. Ralf Reinstädtler, currently First Plenipotentiary in the Saarpfalz region, is also to join the board for the first time. "This personnel proposal promises continuity despite major personnel changes," said outgoing union boss Hofmann. "In this way, IG Metall will remain the assertive, combative and forward-looking union it is today in the coming years." (Reuters/row)