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UNI Global Union mourns the loss of Neil Kearney, General Secretary of International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF), who passed away in the early hours of November 19.

Neil was on mission in Bangladesh and died in his hotel room in Dhaka.

Head of the ITGLWF since 1988, Neil was constantly criss-crossing the planet to support the cause of textile workers. He will be remembered by the global union movement and workers around the world for his tireless fight for better conditions in the textile industry and for his invaluable work campaigning against child labour.

“Neil was a real champion of the poor, an immense fighter for their rights and fearless in standing up to the giant corporation that profited from supply chains built around slave-labour conditions,” said UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings. “We have lost a friend, a great leader and brilliant campaigner. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.”

Before taking the helm at the ITGLWF, Neil was for 16 years a national trade union official in the UK. He was born in 1950 in Donegal, Ireland.