EPSU elects new leadership at congress in Bucharest

The 11th Congress of the European Federation of Public Service Trade Unions (EPSU) is coming to an end in Bucharest (Romania), with over 500 delegates gathered.

The congress also elected the leadership of the organization representing millions of European public service workers for the next five years: Francoise Geng was elected as the new EPSU president and Jan Willem Goudriaan was re-elected as general secretary.

F. Geng previously headed the health and social services branch of the French trade union center CGT, and from 2011 to 2015 was the chairperson of the working section of the French Economic and Social Affairs Committee. From 2019 she served as EPSU vice-president.

J. W. Goudriaan has been EPSU General Secretary since 2014. He is responsible for overall policy coordination and the management of EPSU’s personnel and finances. With extensive experience and dedication to public service workers, J. W. Goudriaan constantly emphasizes the important role of public services in building a better Europe.

Congress delegates also expressed their gratitude to outgoing President Mette Nord (Fagforbundet, Norway) for her outstanding work over the past five years. Ms. Nord’s commitment and passion laid a solid foundation for EPSU’s strategy. EPSU also bid farewell to Penny Clarke, who has been since 2014 as Deputy General Secretary of EPSU, and Richard Pond, who founded the EPSU Collective Bargaining Newsletter, the most comprehensive publication of its kind in Europe.

“Congratulations to the new EPSU leaders! We wish a successful work for the benefit of European public sector workers. We promise to actively participate and contribute to this difficult but necessary mission. It’s good to be a part of such a big family and to feel a constant support”, says Dalia jakutavičė, head of the Lithuanian Industry Trade Union Federation, who represents the employees of Lithuanian public service sector at the congress.