Jürgen Peters (born 17 March 1944) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

former trade union leader. Born in what is now

Opole Opole (; ; ; ) is a city located in southern Poland on the Oder River and the historical capital of Upper Silesia. With a population of approximately 127,387 as of the 2021 census, it is the capital of Opole Voivodeship (province) and the seat of ...

in Poland, Peters trained as a machinist, and then found work at

Hanomag Hanomag (Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG, ) was a German producer of steam locomotives, tractors, trucks and military vehicles in Hanover. Hanomag first achieved international fame by delivering numerous steam locomotives to Finland, Romania and ...

, in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

. In 1961, he joined the trade union

IG Metall IG Metall (; IGM; German: , "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of German labor relations consider i ...

. He studied at the Labour Academy in Frankfurt, then became a teacher at one of IG Metall's training centres. In 1976, he moved to work for the union in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, and in 1988, he became the head of its Hanover region. In 1993, he negotiated a deal at

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

, where workers cut back to a four-day week in exchange for an end to redundancies. In 1998, Peters was elected as vice president of IG Metall, with responsibility for

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

, despite the opposition of union leader Klaus Zwickel. He became the most prominent figure on the union's left wing, strongly opposing

Agenda 2010 The Agenda 2010 is a series of reforms planned and executed by the German government in the early 2000s, a Social Democrats/ Greens coalition at that time, which aimed to reform the German welfare system and labour relations. The declared objectiv ...

, and supporting a major but unsuccessful strike in 2003. Peters argued that the strike had failed due to Zwickel's poor strategy. Zwickel resigned, and Peters was elected as his replacement. He also replaced Zwickel as president of the

International Metalworkers' Federation The International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) was a global union federation of metalworkers' trade unions, founded in Zürich, Switzerland in August 1893. the IMF had more than 200 member organisations in 100 countries, representing a combine ...

. He served in both posts until his retirement, in 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Jürgen 1944 births Living people German trade unionists People from Opole