Neil Kearney ITGLWF General Secetary     Born in 1950 in Donegal, Ireland, Neil Kearney immigrated to the UK at the age of 17 in search of employment. He took a job with the National Westminster Bank and joined the National Union of Bank Employees on his first day at work. He took a job with the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers in 1972, and the following year was appointed Information Officer. In 1976 he became Head of the Information and Research Department. He served as an Adviser to the U.K. Economic Development Committee for the Clothing Industry from 1975 to 1978. He was a member of the Clothing EDC and of the National Economic Development Office Joint Textile Committee from 1978 to 1988. He served as a member of the TUC's Textile, Clothing and Footwear Industries' Committee from 1976 to 1988. He was a Labour Party candidate for the UK Parliament in the February and October 1974 general elections. Elected Councillor in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London in 1978, he became Leader of the Opposition on the Council in 1981, a post held until departure for Brussels in 1988. In 1988 he was elected General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation. He was reelected in 1992 and again in 1996. He was elected Chairman of the ITS General Conference for 1997 - 1999. Since becoming ITGLWF General Secretary, he has visited more than 140 different countries worldwide, flying some 3 million miles. During the same period, ITGLWF membership has grown from 5.3 to 9 million workers in 245 affiliated unions in 130 countries worldwide. In 1997 he was appointed as a member of the Advisory Board of the Council on Economic Activities Accreditation Agency in New York in 1997. In 1998 he was appointed as a member of the United Kingdom's Ethical Trading Initiative Board of Directors. In December 1998, Kearney received the "Il Natale, La Notta della Vita" international award for his work on the elimination of child labour worldwide. In 1999 he received the "1999 Work and Environment Award" of the Associazione Ambiente e Lavoro for his efforts to improve working conditions, especially in developing countries. He is married with two children.

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