Episode #5 of the RAW MATTERS podcast: Judith Kirton-Darling brings in a much-needed workers’ perspective in the ESG discussions on the CRMA/IAA debate.

🎙️ “We sometimes feel like Cinderella at the party”, dixit Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary for industriAll Europe, when asked why it seems the worker’s perspective is getting drowned out in the Brussels debates about the #CriticalRawMaterialsAct or the Industrial Accelerator Act.

🎙️ Synopsis
Hosts Peter Tom Jones (SIM2 KU Leuven) and Julia Poliscanova (she/her) Poliscanova (T&E) welcome Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary of industriAll Europe. Kirton-Darling is widely considered as one of Europe’s leading voices, representing 7 millions of industrial workers. The discussion is triggered by the recent speech of Bart De Wever, the Belgian Prime Minister, who stated:

“Last year I said that Europe must never become an industrial museum. The birthplace of the industrial revolution cannot turn into a beautiful heritage park where visitors admire the prosperity of the past while the future is built elsewhere” (2nd European Industry Summit, Feb 2026, Antwerp).

Kirton-Darling provides some shocking numbers about the on-going industrial decline in Europe (100,000 jobs lost in the EU #steelindustry since 2008; 50,000 jobs lost in the German car industry in 2025 alone). We also zoom in on the problematic worker’s situation in Asian-owned #battery factories in #Hungary and what is needed to rectify these situations. Kirton-Darling is clear about the IAA: “Made in Europe must mean made with quality, made with responsibility, and made with the people of Europe at its heart.”

⁉️ JUDITH KIRTON-DARLING
Judith Kirton-Darling is General Secretary of industriAll Europe, representing manufacturing, mining and energy workers from 39 European countries. She was formerly a Labour Member of the European Parliament for the North East of England (2014-20). Before entering parliament, she was active for 15 years within the Labour and trade union movement, notably she was elected Confederal Secretary at the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in 2011.

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IndustriALL IndustriALL Global Union ABVV, Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond ACV, Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) Bond Beter Leefmilieu The European Steel Association (EUROFER) European Commission European Environment Agency Euromines European Metals

Toni Eerola Elisabeth Gammelsaeter Sophie Grenade Adele R. Kristiina Jokelainen, SmartNorth Ltd Pekka Suomela Suopajärvi Leena Kaisa Raitio Sisli Piisilä Terho Liikamaa Saija Luukkanen Ronald Arvidsson Joanna Kuntonen-van ‘t Riet