Louis, Julien <br/><br/>
Office-bound trade unionists: A sociology of the leaders of the European Trade Union Confederation (2007–2023) 

 -  2025.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 5 
<br/><br/> On December 12, 2023, a rare “Euro-demonstration” organized by trade unions brought between 5,000 and 15,000 people to the streets of Brussels. This was an almost unprecedented event for the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), which usually favors expertise and consultation over mass mobilization. Why such restraint when it comes to protest action? This article seeks to answer that question by updating the sociology of ETUC leaders. Through a collective biography of twenty-five executives elected between 2007 and 2023, the author reveals a world of highly qualified, cosmopolitan, and professionalized “trade union diplomats”—often far removed from grassroots activism. Between national bureaucrats promoted to the European level and pure products of the “Brussels bubble,” who exactly are these representatives of Europe’s 40 million union members? And above all, how do their backgrounds shape a mode of European trade unionism that is strikingly disconnected from traditional repertoires of struggle? The investigation leads to a bold proposal: What if the ETUC abandoned its lobbying ambitions to become a genuine platform for supporting national trade union struggles?