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Elected with more than 92 per cent of the vote by the ETUC Congress in Athens this week, she succeeds John Monks, who retired, having been in office since 2003.



Bernadette has served as Regional Secretary of UNI Europa since 2000, re-elected to the position in 2003 and 2007. Prior to that, from 1985 to 2000 she was the Director of Euro-FIET in Brussels.



She has been a member of the ETUC Executive Committee and Steering Committee since 1985.



As well as congratulating Bernadette on her election, we pay tribute to her extraordinary contribution to the work of our organisation, which has included the following:

Contributed to the overhaul of the services directive (2003-2006), positively influenced the telecom and postal legislations;

Fought for temporary agency work legislation using our dialogue with employers as leverage for a better legal European Union framework;

Supported the creation of over 200 European Works Councils, and developed their capacity to service them;

Created 11 social dialogue platforms. Their operation involves regular discussions and/or negotiations with European employers’ organisations;

Actively involved in the process of re-regulation of the finance sector, fighting financial capitalism (private equity and hedge funds) in close coordination with ETUC;

Working with affiliates in Eastern and Central Europe and candidate countries to develop their strength at national level, facilitate their inclusion in European trade union work and promote trade union rights;

Fighting for equal treatment in Europe.

In its Athens manifesto, the ETUC Congress sets out its priorities for the next four years. These include fighting for a European New Deal for workers "against austerity governance, cuts in pay, social security and public services; and for European economic governance that serves the interests of the European people and not the markets".



Other objectives include a "coordinated attack on youth employment," improvements in working conditions, joint initiatives with employers to create green jobs and strict regulation of the financial sector, including rating agencies.



The manifesto also includes a commitment by the ETUC to support EU enlargement by working with its affiliates in Turkey and the western Balkans. It also contains a demand for the right to strike on transnational issues and calls for the creation of a specific labour chamber in the European Court of Justice.



We wish Bernadette every success in her work.