Union leader Javier Pacheco (Barcelona, ​​1970) grew up in a working-class family, with a stay-at-home mother and a father who worked in the plastics industry. "They were small companies, and Dad changed jobs many times. I saw how he suffered the consequences of minor crises because he couldn't find stability for more than ten years at the same company," he recalls. This family experience shaped his career path: "My father always advised us to end up working for a big company." That's how he ended up working at Nissan. Before that, however, he had already entered the workforce at a very young age, at 14, as a scrap metal collector: "I was starting adolescence and needed money to go out, and there wasn't any at home." He completed vocational training in the automotive sector and has never stopped working. In 1990, Pacheco joined the Workers' Commissions (CCOO). Seven years later he was elected union representative for the company, and from 2017 to 2025 he served as general secretary of CCOO in Catalonia. "I never thought this would continue. I thought it was a decision for a period of my life," Pacheco explained in statements toCompaniesAnd he adds: "This wasn't my father's or my mother's fight, because they never had that political background. They came from the Franco era, from when the motto was 'don't get involved in politics.' But these are the values of a working class and a working-class family."

Belén López (Les Masies de Voltregà, 1976) became the first woman to lead the CCOO (Workers' Union) in Catalonia this Thursday. She will replace Javier Pacheco—after eight years in office—at the helm of the country's largest union, with nearly 147,000 members. The delegates gathered this week at the organization's congress selected her candidate, the only one running, with 563 votes in favor and 16 blank votes. The support was 98.12%.

The president of the Foment del Treball employers' association, Josep Sánchez Llibre, says he may be doing Javier Pacheco a disservice by explaining that, amid disagreements and disputes, he has also formed a curious friendship with the outgoing general secretary of the CCOO (Working Workers' Workers' Association) of Catalonia. The union leader bid farewell to the organization during its 13th congress, which began this Wednesday at the Palau de Congressos in Barcelona. The meeting concludes his two terms, and on Friday—barring any unforeseen events—he will choose the only candidate to succeed him and the first woman in history to hold this position: Belén López from GironaPacheco left with a prelude full of praise, both from the employers with whom he had to fight in labor disputes, and from the colleagues with whom he shared eight years marked by the Process, the pandemic, and the reindustrialization of the former Nissan.