The German industrial union IG Metall has started a new chapter in its history. Monday October 23, Christiane Benner, 55, was elected president during the organization’s congress in Frankfurt am Main. The largest independent union in the world, with 2.2 million members, has never been led by a woman. This is a major break within an organization that is still very masculine, strongly established in the automobile industry, which still has 80% male employees.
Observing the applause on Monday morning, on the second day of the congress, there is no doubt that Christiane Benner is extremely popular within the union. The 418 delegates approved his candidacy with more than 96% of the votes.
As is often the case in Germany, the break occurs in continuity: the first female union leader in German industry had time to build her support internally. Joining IG Metall in 1988, she went through all the stages of the classic union career, from company delegate to vice-president of IG Metall at the Frankfurt headquarters, a position she held for eight years.
Christiane Benner thus becomes one of the most influential women in German capitalism: thanks to the laws on co-decision, which guarantee employee representations 50% of the seats on the supervisory boards of large groups, IG Metall has financial leverage and considerable decision-making in the country’s leading companies. It is one of the rare organizations still capable of mobilizing millions of employees, and an essential contact for public authorities.
Made aware very early on about gender equality
The election also confirms the feminization of German trade union organizations, to which Christiane Benner largely contributed. In the spring of 2022, the DGB (Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund), the federation which oversees the main centers, elected Yasmin Fahimi as its head.
A year earlier, it was the Italian-German Daniela Cavallo who took over at Volkswagen as head of the Betriebsrat, the powerful employee representation council.
At industrial heavyweights Siemens and Bosch, supervisory boards have also become more feminized in recent years. “I want women where the money is distributed, in the supervisory boards, in the management boards, in the employee representation councils, in the unions,” explained Christiane Benner to World in fall 2022.
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