Virginia Gensel is also known for its rigor

It could hardly do better as a symbol. For a first time, the CGT mining-energy prepares to elect a woman as its head and it is likely to give birth on the day of his election. The powerful Trade Union Federation meets today in Congress, in Montpellier. Wednesday, final day of the Congress and expected date of childbirth, the Federation shall appoint lead Virginia Gensel, which is already General Secretary Assistant since 2003.

Enjoying his lamb in a brewery in the 20th arrondissement in Paris, two not she, Gensel Virginia is the long time. One of the pregnancy. It is taken for one month by a bad sinusitis. "Normally, I should take corticosteroids, but pregnant, it can do nothing," she sighs. The congested sinuses, she hesitates to record a video that would be broadcast tomorrow on a giant screen to activists gathered in Montpellier.

In any event, this woman of forty-one years is rather insular nature. "The spotlight, is not his thing", shows Marie-Claire Cailletaud, accompanying to the Federation for a few years. "But when it has something to say, she doesn't mince his words, regardless of the person in the face." According to an Executive of the sector, "it is indeed someone who plays card on the table a real trade unionist, who has a certain faith in what he did."

Virginia Gensel is also known for its rigor. If it is not to return to the political line of the Federation, which is the result of consultation, the Contracting Party think affect the methods of work. "Women can bring thoroughness, organization and efficiency." It was not expected to do. "When I arrived in Lyon, the meetings were often held at night, the comrades were forced to change and to more normal hours.

Trade unionism in the feminine

This transition to a more female, younger unionism is Denis Cohen who initiated it. By transferring the reins to Frédéric Imbrecht, in 2003, the former Secretary General of the CGT energy known for its pragmatism had so Virginia Gensel be appointed Deputy Secretary General. As is the tradition, it was thus put on track to lead the Federation. Irony of history, in the meantime, she falls in love of Frédéric Imbrecht, who is the father of the new offspring...

Unionism, Virginia Gensel there fell in almost by chance. After literary Bachelor and a year of psychology, Lyonnaise is moving towards a BTS commercial action "I wanted to the concrete" that leading to a position of commercial Assistant in Manpower. She remained there four years and then joined EDF in 1995. "The CFDT has engaged me because my father was there when he worked for EDF, that I didn't fully." She prefers to encarter to the CGT, as his maternal grandfather...

Very committed, his rise is rapid. In 1997, she between the Executive Board of the CGT of Lyon, became a member of the national group of executives. In 2000, she joined the collective of young people. Three years later, she is Deputy Secretary General. At the age of forty-one, is a priori first woman President of an industrial Federation in the Organization of Bernard Thibault. But it has well first end her maternity leave, until June 7. "I am not Minister."