Yasmin Fahimi (born 25 December 1967) is a German trade unionist and politician who has been chairing the

German Trade Union Confederation The German Trade Union Confederation (german: Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund; DGB) is an umbrella organisation (sometimes known as a national trade union center) for eight German trade unions, in total representing more than 6 million people ...

(DGB) since 2022. From 2017 to 2022, Fahimi served as a member of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

. From January 2014 to December 2015 she was the general secretary of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SPD).

Early life and education

Fahimi was born in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. Her

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ian father died in a car accident before she was born; her mother is German. Her mother's family comes from East Prussia and fled during WW II. Fahimi has one older brother who was born in Tehran. Fahimi's mother, who was employed at the Ministry of Justice, raised the children alone. She studied

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

at the

University of Hanover Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover (german: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational Sc ...

from 1989 to 1998.

Early career

Between 1998 and 2014, Fahimi worked in various capacities at the

IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie The IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie (IG BCE) is a trade union in Germany. It is one of eight industrial affiliations of the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB). History and structure The IG BCE was created in 1997 from the merger of the Chem ...

. From 2012, she also served as founder and board member of the Innovationsforum Energiewende, a group convening unions and companies from the energy sector and energy-intensive industries.

Political career

Fahimi has been a member of the Social Democratic Party since 1984. She was a member of the federal executive board of the party's

youth organization The following is a list of youth organizations. A youth organization is a type of organization with a focus upon providing activities and socialization for Minor (law), minors. In this list, most organizations are international unless noted othe ...

and from 2009 to 2013 deputy chairwoman of the SPD in Hannover. In a special party conference on 26 January 2014 Fahimi was elected with 88.5% of the votes to be Secretary General of the SPD under party chairman

Sigmar Gabriel Sigmar Hartmut Gabriel (born 12 September 1959) is a German politician who was the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018 and the vice-chancellor of Germany from 2013 to 2018. He was Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

, and therefore successor of

Andrea Nahles Andrea Maria Nahles (born 20 June 1970) is a former German politician who has been the director of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) since 2022. Nahles is best known for having served as leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from April 2 ...

. By late 2015, Gabriel replaced her with

Katarina Barley Katarina Barley (born 19 November 1968) is a German politician and lawyer who has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2019, serving as one of its Vice-Presidents. She served as Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection in th ...

. From 2016 until 2018, Fahimi served as State Secretary at the

Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs The Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (german: Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, ), abbreviated BMAS) is a federal ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany headed by the Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs a ...

under the leadership of minister

. In this capacity, she oversaw the ministry's activities on

occupational safety and health Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wor ...

;

Old Age Security The Old Age Security (OAS) (SV; french: Sécurité de la vieillesse) program is a universal retirement pension available to most residents and citizens of Canada who have reached 65 years old. This pension is supplemented by the Guaranteed Income ...

; matters concerning people with disabilities; and international employment and social policy (including relations with the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

Member of the German Parliament, 2017–2022

In November 2016, Fahimi announced that she would run for a parliamentary seat in the 2017 national elections. In the

, she serves on the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment. As deputy member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, she is her parliamentary group's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Euro ...

on relations to

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. In addition to her committee assignments, she has been chairing the German-Brazilian Parliamentary Friendship Group since 2018. Within the SPD parliamentary group, she belongs to the Parliamentary Left, a left-wing movement. In the negotiations to form a so-called

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition (german: Ampelkoalition) is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' tra ...

of the SPD, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the 2021 federal elections, Fahimi was part of her party's delegation in the working group on labor policy, co-chaired by

Hubertus Heil Hubertus Heil (born 3 November 1972) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel and the first c ...

Katharina Dröge Katharina Dröge (born 16 September 1984) is a German economist and politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as co-chair of the Green Party’s parliamentary group in the Bundestag since 2021, alongside Britta Haßelmann. She pre ...

and Johannes Vogel.

Chair of DGB, 2022–present

In 2021

(DGB) was looking for a woman to chair the organization. Fahimi's partner, Michael Vassiliadis, head of

, made himself available for the office but was eventually opposed by

ver.di (''Verdi'' (stylized as ''ver.di''; �vɛʁdiː; German: ''United Services Trade Union'') is a German trade union based in Berlin, Germany. It was established on 19 March 2001 as the result of a merger of five individual unions and is a memb ...

, one of the main unions in DGB. Finally, Fahimi met with great approval among all trade unions. She was nominated in January 2022 as new chair of DGB.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Bayer Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of busi ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2022)

Non-profit organizations

* Hans Böckler Foundation, Chair of the Board (since 2022) *

German Future Prize The German Future Prize award is considered one of the most prestigious conferred for science and innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offer ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) * Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIN-D), Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2020) * Deutsche Industrieforschungsgemeinschaft Konrad Zuse, Member of the SenateSenate
Deutsche Industrieforschungsgemeinschaft Konrad Zuse. *

, Member

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fahimi, Yasmin 1967 births German politicians of Iranian descent Living people Politicians from Hanover University of Hanover alumni Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony Female members of the Bundestag Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany State Secretaries of Germany 21st-century German women politicians