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EU Observer (16 May 2025)

Alejandro Tauber

Four minutes before the interview was due to start, a call from the comms department: Esther Lynch is hesitant to be featured in a magazine about unsung heroes, because she doesn’t see herself as a hero. Which is exactly why she’s featured in this magazine. 

Lynch never imagined herself in the spotlight. Her first encounter with organised labour came not in a boardroom but on a factory floor, where she noticed that part-time women workers were routinely overlooked. “They weren’t being listened to,” she recalls. “Particularly women workers who were part-time workers. They were given the worst shifts. They didn’t have a loud voice, even within the trade union.” So she became a voice.

Today, Lynch leads the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), representing 45 million members across the EU. Her leadership reflects the same principle she has championed from the beginning: that workers must speak for themselves, and that solidarity is a force for real, lasting change.

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