“Everybody counts or nobody counts”: meet IndustriALL’s president

She did not start with her credentials.

When Christiane Benner introduced herself to the delegates of IndustriALL's 4th Congress in Sydney last November, she started with her mother. A single parent. Money that ran out before the month did.

"I am a daughter of a single mom. Our money was often not enough until the end of the month."

That is where her politics begin. Not in a lecture hall, not in a union office, in a household where economic insecurity was a daily reality. She trained as an industrial clerk in a machine building company, joined IG Metall as a young worker and was elected to the youth representative body, then the Works Council.

"Feminism in unions is a practical, daily shift in power"

Before becoming a union official, she spent time in Chicago where she focused on gender studies and worked with a Black civil rights activist and friend of Malcolm X, organizing summer camps for young people from poverty-stricken neighbourhoods.

"This time really shaped my view and sensitivity for racism, for structurally entrenched discrimination, especially against Black people,"

she told Congress.

She returned to Germany, continued her studies in industrial sociology and joined IG Metall as a union official in 1997. In 2023, she became president of IG Metall, the first woman to lead the union in its 132-year history. Two years later, IndustriALL's affiliates elected her as their president.

She has never separated where she comes from and what she fights for.

A historic moment and what comes next

The timing of her election is not incidental. At the same Sydney Congress, IndustriALL's affiliates adopted a landmark feminist resolution, unanimously, with no votes against and no abstentions. For Christiane Benner, the two things belong together.

Christiane Benner addresses IndustriALL's 4th Congress, Sydney, 5 November 2025

"For me, the unanimous adoption was a powerful moment of international solidarity. It shows that feminism is no longer a marginal issue, but our common political framework. For IndustriALL, this moment represents a clear decision on the direction we are taking: feminist trade union work is at the heart of our strategy, in trade union organizing, in the negotiation of collective agreements and in our global orientation."

The resolution calls for feminist principles to be mainstreamed across all of IndustriALL's work, from Just Transition to global supply chains to collective bargaining. That is a significant commitment. The real question is what it looks like in practice.

"I want to start where strategic decisions are made. We will know that something is changing when women are systematically sitting at these tables and have real decision-making power. Change will be evident when feminist perspectives are a natural part of our work."

Power is not given

More than two decades of building feminist structures inside IG Metall have taught her one thing above all.

"I have learned that feminist unions do not arise on their own. They need structures that actually empower women: transparent pay systems, work-life balance, genuine participation and spaces where women can express themselves. And they need the courage to actively change patriarchal patterns. Feminism in unions is a practical, daily shift in power."

This matters especially now. Across the world, the gains women workers have made are under attack. Right-wing movements, organized, funded and growing, are targeting reproductive rights, workplace protections and the legitimacy of feminist politics itself.

For the women on the front line of that backlash, she is unequivocal.

"You are not alone. This backlash is directed at us because our movement has grown stronger. Don't be intimidated. Organize, network internationally and stay vocal. Our global trade union movement stands behind every woman who fights for dignity, safety and equality."

Use your voice

At Congress, speaking to the youngest delegates in the room, she was clear about one more thing: the union youth work that shaped her own trajectory is not optional. It is how movements reproduce themselves.

Christiane Benner at the IndustriALL global youth conference, Sydney, 3 November 2025

Her message to a young woman worker just finding her voice in her union is the same message she would have needed to hear.

"Your voice is effective. If you use it, you can change structures, for yourselves and for future generations."

From a household where money did not last the month, to the presidency of a global union representing 50 million workers, she is not speaking in abstractions.

She knows what it takes. And she knows change is possible.