Gerd Kristiansen

Gerd Kristiansen (born August 1, 1955 in Harstad) is a Norwegian licensed practical nurse and has been the leader of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions since May 6, 2013.

Gerd Kristiansen was born in the village of Fauskevåg in Harstad municipality and grew up on a farm. At the age of 17 she became a single mother. She took some courses in economics but also worked as a fisher in the North Sea and the Barents Sea. In the early 1980s she worked on a fishing boat that shipwrecked outside Kiberg, but all on board survived. After studying in Tromsø, she became a licensed practical nurse. She then worked at Åsgard, a psychiatric hospital, which today is part of the University Hospital of North Norway in Tromsø. Early in her career she became involved in trade union work, and held several elected positions. She was the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Union's main representative for members employed in the county of Troms for ten years.

Kristiansen was elected deputy leader of the Norwegian Association of Health and Social Care Personnel in 2002. The organization was merged into Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees in 2003 and Kristiansen then became part of the leadership in that organization. She was elected deputy leader of Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees in 2005.

At the Confederation of Trade Union's congress in 2009, Gerd Kristiansen was elected deputy leader of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, with Roar Flåthen as president of the organization. Her candidature was backed and promoted by the Union of Municipal and General Employees, but it came as a surprise to many other delegates at the Confederation congress, as they believed that Rita Lekang, who already was in the Confederation's leadership, would have been their candidate.

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