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 Vic Thorpe
The Founder and Coordinator of the Just Solutions Network is Vic Thorpe. He is currently the Chairperson of the JO-IN project - a joint initiative between the leading certification agencies and multi-stakeholder bodies in labour and social compliance, global apparel brands, their local suppliers in Turkey, trade unions and NGO's. The aim of this project is to maximize the effectiveness of the MSI's in improving conditions for workers and their families; to explore closer cooperation possibilities between them and to work towards a common labour and social compliance code for wider application.
A certified SA8000 Advanced Auditor and specialist in ‘Freedom of Association’ issues, Vic is the former General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) – a Global Union Federation with membership of over 350 national unions from 130 countries, representing over 21 million organized workers.
Vic was responsible for developing and negotiating one of the first global framework agreements governing conduct between a multinational company (Statoil) and its worldwide workforce. He was also the architect of the first multi-stakeholder sector forum (between industry, labour and public interest groups), leading to the first global sector initiative on sustainability in the chlorine industry.
He has led negotiations on labour and health & safety standards at the ILO on “The Safe Use of Chemicals at Work” and “The Avoidance of Major Industrial Accidents” (the ‘Bhopal Convention’), as well as on a wide range of industrial issues.
As senior consulting adviser he brought formal labour representation into the governing structures of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and has mediated the development of relations within the GRI’s stakeholder working group.
 Delia Schroeder
Delia Schroeder is a sociologist by training who consults in both the public and private sectors. Her work concentrates especially on the evaluation of labor market processes, personnel development and urban development. She is currently working on a number of projects under the aegis of major European Union programs as well as for national and regional initiatives. She also has an ongoing relationship with the German Youth Institute (DJI-Deutsches Jugendinstitut).
Delia combines qualitative and quantitative methods of polls and surveys, social area analyses, and 'bottom up' participation processes, with strong skills in empirical research, statistical analysis and the reporting and presentation of survey results.
 Mike Murphy
Mike Murphy is a former Africa Region Officer of a leading global union federation, and prior to that was Legal Officer and National Organiser of the South African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union. Mike also has several decades experience in organization-building, adult education, human rights campaigning, and action research. He is currently (since 2000) based in Johannesburg, where he works on a range of multi-stakeholder projects: with the NALEDI labour and community think-tank on workplace transformation issues, and with the Global Reporting Initiative on CSR and HIV-Aids issues.
Mike has traveled widely, particularly in Africa in recent years, has extensive links throughout the Southern African Region in labour and NGO networks, and is able to draw on these contacts to inform internal industrial investigation. Mike holds postgraduate degrees in Education and the Humanities from the University of Natal (South Africa) and in Sociology from the University of Warwick (UK).
Roque Da Silva
Roque Da Silva extends Just Solutions’ coverage into the Latin American Region. He holds a Master's Degree in the Sociology of Development from the University of Paris at the Sorbonne and has completed further studies in Strategic Planning. He was Secretary for Labour Relations at the Brazilian Ministry of Labour; Representative of the Brazilian Government to the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO); and Coordinator for the Brazilian Government in negotiations on labour issues during the process of construction of the Mercosur. He was also Regional Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean for the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and Secretary for Tourism for the City of Embu das Artes, the major tourist centre for the Sao Paulo metropolitan Region.
Roque is currently Adviser on International Relations for the Workers' Party (PT) of Brazil and Director of Finance and Training of the Jorge Baptista Institute, which is an NGO specializing in research, training and consultancy in municipal administration.
Mostafa Rostom
Mostafa Rostom is the former International Officer of the Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions and a former Project Officer of the North Africa and Middle East Region of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, DANIDA, LO-TCO Sweden and the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center. He has wide experience of working with labour in the Arab world and is a regular representative of the Egyptian unions at meetings of the International Labour Organisation. With extensive contacts in the labour and political communities throughout the North African and Middle East Region and internationally, he is a skilled and diplomatic trainer, with a wide range of languages, and with a lively appreciation of local conditions.
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 Peter Schmitt
Peter Schmitt, a certified SA8000 Lead Auditor, is a Senior Consultant and the Training Manager of the Just Solutions Network. Peter graduated as an Economist and Political Scientist from Hamburg University and was a trade union trainer for works council and supervisory board members, later a regional officer of a leading German industrial union. He worked for more than a decade as Central and Eastern European Coordinator of the ICEM, where he developed contacts with the unions at a time of massive social and economic change. He gave consultancy, organized training projects, forums and international conferences in Russia, the Baltics, Central Asian Republics, Caucasus Region and in the Balkans.
Peter was also the Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Paper and Rubber Industries Officer of the ICEM. In this capacity he was involved in establishing several global trade union networks in major multinational companies and created forums between labour and company representatives. He also initiated the first global agreement between a German multinational company (Freudenberg) and its international organized workforce.
 Alfons Matheis
Alfons Matheis is Professor of Communications and Ethics at the University of Applied Sciences in Trier, Germany. He is a founder and Vice Director of the IfaS – Institute for Applied Material Flow Management. At the EU level he is Coordinator of the Local Sustainability Development Network. At international level he leads a major sustainability project in the city of Kunming, Yunan Region, China. He is specialized in distance learning techniques and in network-building, as well as in business ethics and sustainability concepts.
 Ian Graham
Ian Graham is a writer, editor and translator with wide experience of international trade unionism. He specialises in global labour issues and is a regular contributor to the publications of the ILO. Corporate social responsibility, trade union rights, collective bargaining and occupational health and safety are among his main topics. He has coordinated international campaigns for the release of trade unionists detained without trial and has undertaken missions on all continents. Based in Belgium - near Brussels, the Netherlands and Germany - he has also handled media relations for major labour events in thirteen countries.
 Jeffrey Harrod
Jeffrey Harrod has specialized as an academic in labour in the international political economy and has taught international political economy at leading universities in the USA and Western Europe. He is author and editor of numerous books on international organisations, global labour, and labour and southern debt. He graduated in law from the University of London and obtained his Ph.D from the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
He was research coordinator at the ILO research institute and Professor of Labour Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, where he was also Deputy Rector. As a permanent consultant for research and publications with an international trade union, he pioneered short Training and Policy Workshops (TAP) in the global political economy for trade unionists and others in the social sector. Currently Professor Harrod lectures, supervises research degrees and analyzes industrial sectors from a social and political perspective.
 Peter Unterweger
Peter Unterweger is the former Coordinator of Industrial Departments & Policy for the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) - a Global Union Federation with more then 200 national affiliates in 100 countries that represent about 25 million workers.
Peter was involved in developing, obtaining and implementing the IMF's framework agreements. He has more than a decade of experience in building international networks, and working with international organisations such as the ILO, World Bank, and OECD, as well as participating in the development of the Auto sector guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative. Before joining the IMF, Peter worked for the United Auotmobile Workers' Union (UAW) in the USA, where his work included research, collective bargaining and education.
Peter has traveled widely, particularly in Latin America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions; lived in Austria, the USA, Tanzania, France and Switzerland, and uses English, German and French fluently.
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