Esther Lynch (born 1963) is an Irish trade unionist. She is General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) [1] . Lynch was elected as General Secretary of the ETUC in 2022, the first Irish person and second woman to hold the post. As leader of the confederation, she is prioritising fighting for fair pay, equal pay for women, employment security, and workers' rights. [2] [3] . Prior to that, Lynch held the position of Confederal Secretary of the ETUC from 2015, and in 2019, she was elected as its Deputy General Secretary. [2] [3] [4]
In the 1980s, Lynch worked in a factory making microchips, where she first joined a union. She then moved to become a political advisor to Joan Burton, the Minister for Social Affairs. In 1993, she moved to work for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, where her role included negotiations on pay and social partnership agreements.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers is a British trade union covering the transport sector. Its current President is Alex Gordon and its current General Secretary is Mick Lynch.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is the major trade union organisation representing workers at the European level. In its role as a European social partner, the ETUC works both in a consulting role with the European Commission and negotiates agreements and work programmes with European employers. It coordinates the national and sectoral policies of its affiliates on social and economic matters, particularly in the framework of the EU institutional processes, including European economic governance and the EU Semester.
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The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trades Union Congress and the Congress of Irish Unions, is a national trade union centre, the umbrella organisation to which trade unions in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland affiliate.
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Ignacio Fernández Toxo ['toʃo] is a Spanish Trade Unionist that held the position of General Secretary of the Spanish union Workers' Commissions (CCOO) from 2008 to 2017 and President of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) from 2011 to 2015.
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