Europe: BWI affiliates elect new regional leaders, ready to implement new action plan
During the second and last day of BWI’s European Regional Conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on 20 September, the global union’s European affiliates elected their new Regional Committee and Vice-Chair for the next four years under the leadership of Johan Lindholm from Sweden’s Byggnads. The new regional leadership is now composed of:
- Ramazan Agar, Vice-Chair of the European Committee
- Morten Ryom, Chair of the Regional Youth Committee
- Josefine Krantz, Chair of the Regional Women's Committee
The conference also commended the work of Genevieve Kalina, BWI Regional Representative for Europe, for performing her duties despite the challenging circumstances. BWI’s European affiliates said that they stand solidly behind Kalina’s leadership in the years to come.
The election of a new regional leadership complements with the approval of new action plans for Europe from 2023 to 2026. The new set of leaders are expected to implement, together with affiliates, BWI’s global action plan and 5th Global Congress resolutions in the region. It was reported that the conference’s 160 trade union delegates approved a new action plan for Europe, as well as regional youth and women action plans for the next three years.
Lindholm committed to build the power of organised labour from below and ensure that trade unions are drivers of positive change at the national, regional and international levels. “European workers in industries where BWI is present at are facing new hardships from falling wages, cost-of-living crises, increased occupational health and safety risks to climate change-related workplace heat stress and undermined labour rights in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure projects overseen by Chinese multinational companies,” he said.
“Through our unity and the daily concrete practice of humanity, justice, and freedom at workplaces and beyond, we can contribute to rebuild the fabric of our communities and trust in democracies. This will be crucial as we confront the far-right and authoritarian forces that are mounting in Europe,” Lindholm concluded.