Agnes Jongerius

Jongerius was born in the De Meern neighbourhood in the city of Utrecht in 1960.^[1] Her father worked as a gardener.^[2] She went to the Bonifatius Lyceum, a gymnasium in the city of Utrecht between 1973 and 1979. In that latter year she went to Utrecht University to study social-economic history, graduating cum laude in 1988.^[1]

One year before her graduation she started working for the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV). She became a board member of the Transport Workers' Union, an FNV member organization, in 1997, and she started serving as an FNV board member and collective agreement coordinator in 2002. Jongerius was appointed vice chair two years later.^[2] She was the FNV's first female chair between 25 May 2005 and 23 June 2012, and she was vice chair of the International Trade Union Confederation for the last five of those years.^[1][2] In 2009, feminist magazine Opzij named Jongerius the most powerful Dutch woman of the year, citing her role at FNV during the economic crisis.^[3]

In September 2013 information surfaced that Jongerius wanted to become the new mayor of Utrecht, to succeed Aleid Wolfsen. Jongerius did not want to respond to the claims.^[4] Jan van Zanen was later named mayor.

Jongerius is a Catholic, and her partner is VPRO journalist Ger Jochems. While an MEP, she lived in Utrecht.^[2]