Quaker elected confederal secretary of ETUC
Judith Kirton-Darling steps into a new role
A Quaker has been chosen as a confederal secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Judith Kirton-Darling, a member of Brussels Meeting, was elected at ETUC’s congress in Athens on 18 May.
Judith, 33, is an adviser to the European Metalworkers’ Federation and a former programme assistant at the Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA). She has also worked for the British trade union Unite and lectured on politics in Hamburg. She was applauded by the congress after she thanked them and spoke of her experience of growing up in Middlesbrough.
‘I saw first-hand, where I grew up in the eighties, the impact of Thatcherism on my community,’ she said, ‘and my home town today is at the forefront of the fight in terms of the public sector cuts in the UK and once again I see the impact of neo-liberal policies on working people and ordinary communities.’
ETUC brings together trade union federations from thirty-six European countries, including the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the UK. Judith Kirton-Darling, who is one of three confederal secretaries, said she is looking forward to the challenge of ‘strengthening the voice of European workers’.
