On behalf of EZA, we said goodbye to Andreas Gjecaj (middle) at the “Conference on Trade Union Cooperation in Europe” (KGZE), held in Vienna at the end of April. As the outgoing General Secretary of the Christian Trade Unionist Group (FCG) in the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB), it was the last DCA conference for which he held joint responsibility. We would also like to thank Dr. Norbert Schnedl (left), who will retire as Federal Chairman of the FCG, for whom this was also the last KGZE event. He will, however, remain with us as the Treasurer of EZA.
Andreas Gjecaj joined the KGZE in 2006, and remained loyal to the conference throughout his tenure. In addition to his involvement in the KGZE and the special project for workers' organisations in the Western Balkans, Andreas Gjecaj has always provided valuable guidance as a speaker at our seminars and in our educational programme, among others, by contributing thoughts from his book on Christian social teaching and his theses on the future of work.
The importance of Christian social values in trade unions has always united us, and we can therefore answer one of the KGZE’s leading questions in 2023 – do our Christian social values serve to motivate and inspire? – clearly they do.
We as EZA would like to express our sincere thanks to Andreas Gjecaj for his excellent cooperation, interesting debates and great commitment over the many years we have been working together. We wish him all the very best, and hope that the meeting with him in Vienna was not the last. Meanwhile, we extend a warm welcome to his successor, Michael Schediwy-Klusek (right), and look forward to our future collaboration.