添付資料 4
Speech at AMETIAP Conference on 7 December 1999, Tokyo
Shigeru Wada
Regional Secretary for the Asia/Pacific Region International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF)
It is my utmost honour and pleasure to address on behalf of the International Transport Workers' Federation, ITF, at this important AMETIAP Conference here in Tokyo. I would like to thank particularly Mr. Rod Short, Executive Secretary of the AMETIAP, for his kind invitation.
I am sure that many of you are quite familiar about the ITF, but allow me to start by giving you a brief introduction about our organisation. The ITF was established in 1896, more than a century ago as an international organisation of seafarers' and dock workers' unions. It soon expanded its scope to cover other transport sectors such as railways, road transport, civil aviation, fishery and tourism. It also developed from a predominantly European organisation to a truly international organisation having strong affiliates in the Asia/Pacific region as well as in all other continents. The ITF now represents more than 560 transport trade unions from more than 130 countries with a registered membership of 4.7 million workers.
Among these categories of transport workers, it is the maritime group which has made the ITF's name and reputation so prominent. ITF's international campaign against Flags of Convenience system has just marked its 50th anniversary last year. M/V Global Mariner, a special exhibition ship to commemorate this half a century of campaign activities, is touring around the world to raise the public awareness about the problems of FOC system, especially the plight of many seafarers who are exploited and abused on board sub-standard ships. She visited many ports in the Asia/Pacific region and has attracted more than 300,000 visitors in this region alone to the exhibition, including many cadets and maritime school students.
