Overview

Gender

male

Valter Sanches, born on February 2, 1964, has been a metalworker since 1981 when he started working as a mechanic at a machine building firm in Sao Paulo, Brasil. He holds a degree in Geography from the University of São Paulo (USP). He was then hired by Rolls-Royce in 1985, in São Bernardo do Campo (ABC region).

Since 1988, Sanches has worked as a planner of production processes at Mercedes-Benz in São Bernardo do Campo, where he was elected to the CIPA (Health & Safety Committee) for the 1989-90 term. He has been a member of the Mercedes’ Works Council since 1992. From 1997 to 2005, he was a member of the Council's coordination.

He has also been a member of the Union’s Shop Committee (CSE) since 1999.

Valter Sanches was the Works Council’s and CSE’s coordinator from 2000 until 2002, and also the Brazilian representative on the (then) DaimlerChrysler World Works Council between 2000 and 2007, representing workers from the Campinas and Juiz de Fora plants as well.

He was a member of the executive council of the ABC Metalworkers’ Union (CNM/CUT’s affiliated) between 2002 and 2005.

In 2004, he was elected Organizing Secretary of CNM/CUT (National Confederation of Metalworkers).In the first semester of 2007, Valter Sanches was named General Secretary of CNM/CUT. He was re-elected General Secretary at the 7th CNM/CUT Congress, held in June 2007. In December, 2009 he was elected CNM/CUT’s International Relations Secretary.

In May, 2009 he was elected member of the Executive Committee and of the Financial Committee of the International Metalworkers’ Federation.

As from January, 2010, he was named Communications Director at the ABC Metalworkers’ Union and President of the Fundação Sociedade Comunicação, Cultura e Trabalho (Labour, Culture and Communication Foundation).