Gianfranco Conti

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What are your impressions of Congress as a first-time delegate?
I think that it’s very interesting – I enjoy the African flavour, the African feeling of Congress. But I think there are not enough women and that the leadership is too old. But it’s not only the leadership – there are not enough young people generally.

What do you think about the key theme “organising globally” and how does it relate to your work with the union?
We must organise globally. If we don’t understand each other and work together, there could be fights between unions and even between ports. Capital is already driving the agenda. Congress helps because you get the opportunity to meet people you wouldn’t normally meet – I have been making one-to-one contact at shop steward level. I am already working with shop stewards in Bremerhaven in Germany, so we can avoid inter-port competition in Europe.

What have you learned so far and what will you take home with you from Congress?
There is the possibility of walking together arm in arm and to be increasingly effective. I will take home with me a desire to involve young people in the international trade union movement. It’s a big issue in our own organisation. We had our own congress in February – its main theme was the involvement of young people and how to sell unions to young people who are bearing the brunt of a liberated, deregulated workplace with almost no rights.

What’s been the most interesting aspect of Congress so far?
The most interesting and enriching aspect will be in the next few days in the plenary when we will see all the work done in the women’s conference and the section meetings come together, when the concerns and interests of the 1,000 delegates are collated into an incisive work programme for the next few years. It’s a tribute to the ITF that it has the ability to bring all that together and make it work. I’ve also been very impressed by the fact that the General Secretary David Cockroft was around in all the section meetings, showing a genuine interest in learning and absorbing the feelings and sentiments of people in the Congress. That’s something I appreciate. It’s unusual to see that bottom-up approach.

What is your message to other delegates?
Based on our own experience, it’s important for delegates to bring more young people to Congress. Older people have experience and expertise, but young people have the energy and drive to propel the ITF forward. In our delegation there are six – two are men and four are women, one of whom is very young. That was a conscious choice in our delegation. Maybe next time they should all be under 30.

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