Born on 11 March 1955, in Poland Married, two sons

Education

Master’s degree in languages (Romanic philology) 1974-1978 : Jagellonne University, Cracow, Poland 1995-1997: Teacher training college, Cracow

Professional background

 May 2011

Elected Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation at the Athens Congress

Re-elected in 2007 in Seville Responsible for: social protection, disabled people, regional policy and economic and social cohesion, internal market, services of general interest

 Since 2003

Elected Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation at the Prague Congress in May 2003.

 1999-2002

Vice-President of the National Commission

 1998 2003 Secretary of the National Commission of NSZZ “Solidarność”, Gdansk

 1997-1998 Coordinator of the European Integration Commission, Gdansk, Poland

 1992 – 2003

Member of the National Commission of NSZZ “Solidarność”

 1992-1996

Secretary of the Regional Council of NSZZ “Solidarność”, Rzeszów, Poland

 1981-1992

Civil servant with the National Education Ministry (dormitory supervisor and language teacher) in different schools (technical secondary school, arts secondary school, primary school), Rzeszów, Poland

 1980

Co-founder of NSZZ “Solidarność”, member of its Works Council at “Telkom-Telos”, Cracow

 1979

Military service, armoured infantry military school, Wroclaw – Warsaw

 1978-1981

Sales agent for “Telkom-Telos”, a tele-electronics company, Cracow, Poland

Other professional activities

 1998-2001

Member of the Consultative Committee reporting to the Minister Plenipotentiary in charge of integration into the European Union

 1999-2001

Member of the Policy Programming Council for CONSENSUS (PHARE programme on social protection)