Esther Lynch was elected ETUC Deputy General Secretary at the Vienna Congress in May 2019, after four years as ETUC Confederal Secretary. She has extensive trade union experience at Irish, European and international levels, starting with her election as a shop steward in the 1980s. Before coming to the ETUC, she was the Legislation and Social Affairs Officer with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), where she took part in negotiations on Ireland’s National Social Partner Agreements. Her responsibilities as Deputy General Secretary include social dialogue, collective bargaining and wage policy, gender equality and trade union rights, among others.