Trade unionists young and old — and for that matter, bosses and journalists — will not want to miss this week’s inspirational, compassionate and pragmatic remarks by Paddy Crumlin on the common struggles facing workers worldwide.
You can listen to it here.
At this summer’s International Longshore and Warehouse Union convention in Hawaii, the ILWU 502 Docker Podcast team recorded a number of conversations. Our blog has already featured two of them, including one with ITF General Secretary Steve Cotton, who spoke at length about the struggles of the world’s transport workers and about two ITF campaign issues — one of them a campaign to bring global logistics giant DHL to the world’s negotiating tables, and the other a new campaigning model called the “Four Levers Strategy”.
This week, we’re thrilled to bring listeners an hour-long discussion with Paddy Crumlin, General Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia and president of the ITF. When Paddy was elected, his stated aim was to get the ITF on the front foot prosecuting our own agenda for workers, and not simply functioning as a reactive and bureaucratic meeting machine. Like Steve, Paddy’s aim is to make a difference in the lives of workers, to strengthen ITF affiliates and to make a measurable contribution.
It is because of the likes of Paddy Crumlin, Steve Cotton and others that many of us are raising our game. The struggles are numerous and indeed they are even mounting, but we are building our capacity and renewing our energy to take on the bastards and work with the good ones.
Pour yourself a coffee — or better still, a nice Aussie shiraz from the Margaret River — and have a listen here.
The ITF in Canada 