The IG Metall union is to be led by a woman for the first time in the future. The executive board of the largest single union in Germany nominated the former deputy of outgoing chairman Jörg Hofmann, Christiane Benner, as a candidate for his successor, IG Metall announced on Tuesday. Hofmann had proposed Benner himself.
The current chief treasurer Jürgen Kerner, who sits on the supervisory boards of Siemens and Thyssenkrupp, among others, is to become the new Vice Chairman. He is considered to be well connected. His successor as chief treasurer is also to be a woman: Nadine Boguslawski, currently First Representative of the union in Stuttgart.
A dual leadership with Benner and the Baden-Württemberg IG Metall boss Roman Zitzelsberger had recently been smashed. Zitzelsberger announced his resignation from a position on the board for health reasons. The model, for which the statutes would have to be changed, had already met with skepticism in the board. It is customary in the union for the number two to move up when the first chairman leaves.
The leadership of IG Metall will be re-elected at the trade union congress in Frankfurt from 22 to 26 October. Four of the previous seven members of the Executive Board are no longer standing there. 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."