ITF 43rd Congress Report By Garry Parsloe National President On 10–16 August 2014 National Secretary Joe Fleetwood, Wellington Secretary, Mike Clark, Wellington Branch President, Alan Windsor and I attended the ITF 43rd Congress in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Congress opened with speeches from Bulgarian Prime Minister, Professor Georgi Bliznashki, who stated that it was of paramount importance that the ITF supports the UN and all organisations that seek peace and social justice. The Congress Slogan “From Global Crisis to Global Justice – Transport workers fighting back” is proof of that willingness. Solidarity in the struggle for social justice is paramount and a noble fight. ITF President, Paddy Crumlin, said that “everything we do is essential to the quality of human life, we are running the trains, buses and airplanes, our dockworkers are moving goods. We are in the fishing industry. We are everywhere and we demand justice”. ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, said that “you are working, as the ITF has always done, at the cutting edge of trade union internationalism. From the very beginning, transport workers have been leaders in global workers solidarity”. As well as the opening speeches we had a great start with a cavalcade of welcome from the Bulgarian hosts and a line-up of the national and international guests. All the above set the tone for a positive and productive Congress. On the second day we had reports from unions all around the world expanding on their struggles for social justice.
18 | The Maritimes | Spring 2014
At night we attended a packed fringe event that paid tribute to Nelson Mandela. Joe Fleetwood spoke at the event where he pointed out some of the activities that New Zealand maritime workers did in support of social justice in South Africa. In the morning of Day three, Tuesday 12 August, the MUNZ delegates attended the Seafarers’ Section Conference. In this section we dealt with all the remits that were put before the Seafarers’ Section. In the afternoon the MUNZ delegation attended the Dockers’ Section Conference. Paddy Crumlin opened up this section and after giving an overview on the work being done and the planning for going forward, and we had an in depth report on the Ports of Convenience Campaign. On day four our delegation attended the joint Seafarers’ and Dockers’ Conference. At the meeting we dealt with all the remits and resolutions from both the Seafarers’ and Dockers’ meetings that were held the previous day. On Friday 15 August we attended the plenary session where we debated the issues of the day, the occupation of Palestine and the Free the Cuban 5 campaign. All the issues and the resolutions were addressed at length before Congress endorsed them. In the afternoon, along with other issues, we elected Steve Cotton as the ITF General Secretary. On the last day Saturday 16 August we attended the 43rd ITF Congress closing session. There were closing addresses from the Seafarers’ Section, Civil Aviation, the Dockers’ Section, the Road Transport Section, the Rail Section, the Women’s Transport Section, the Inland Navigation Section, the Youth Section and the Fishing Section. Paddy Crumlin then read the names of all the elected officials before thanking all the volunteers. He then summed up a most positive and productive conference.
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