Solidarity (South African trade union)

Solidarity (South African trade union)

Infobox Union
name= Solidarity
members= 130,000 (2008) [cite web
title= WHO WE ARE - SOLIDARITY TODAY
work= solidaritysa.co.za
url=http://www.solidaritysa.co.za/left_nafr.html
url=http://www.solidaritysa.co.za/
accessdate=2008-09-23]
full_name= Solidarity
native_name= Solidariteit/Solidarity


founded= 22 June 1902
country= South Africa
affiliation= ITUC, Consawu
office= Pretoria, South Africa
website= [http://www.solidaritysa.co.za/Home/home.php www.solidaritysa.co.za]
[http://www.solidariteit.co.za (In Afrikaans)]
footnotes=
current=
head=
dissolved_date=
dissolved_state= Merged into
merged_into=
people= Flip Buys, "General Secretary"
Dirk Hermann, "Deputy General Secretary: Development"
Steve Scott, "President"

Solidarity (Afrikaans: "Solidariteit") is one of the oldest trade unions in South Africa. Its origins go back to 1902 and the Witwatersrand mines.

__TOC__

History and Current Activities

Since its inception, Solidarity – and its predecessor, the Mine Workers Union – has been closely linked to the course of South African history. In the 1990s a number of other trade unions, among them the South African Workers Union, joined the Mine Workers Union and the trade union’s name was changed, first to MWU-Solidarity and subsequently to Solidarity.

Since 1997, when Solidarity’s current CEO, Flip Buys, was appointed to his position, the trade union’s membership has grown from around 30 000 members to more than 130 000. Every month at least 1 000 to 2 000 new members join Solidarity. The trade union has more than 20 offices countrywide and members are serviced by a staff of more than 200 and around 2 000 shop stewards in thousands of companies.

In 2006 Solidarity affiliated with the Confederation of South African Workers’ Unions (Consawu). This membership enables the trade union to take part in the labour debate both nationally and internationally.

Solidarity has members in virtually every industry and company in South Africa. The main industries in which Solidarity is organised are metal and engineering, mining, the electrical industry, telecommunications, the chemical industry, agriculture and general industries, among them tertiary institutions, aeronautics and other specialised areas.

Associate projects

Solidarity's Helping Hand undertakes numerous social projects and the trade union annually awards study bursaries in excess of R1 million to prospective students. Solidarity’s training initiative, Sol-Tech, provides training for hundreds of students and the trade union’s civil rights initiative, AfriForum, tackles issues that affect the community. Solidarity has a company that offers members short-term insurance and personal loans; Fin-Q is Solidarity’s financial services company that assists members with financial planning and offers the cheapest retirement plan in the country. Solidarity Health Care helps members to make informed choices with regard to medical fund membership. Solidarity also runs its own medical scheme, SolVita. Express Personnel helps unemployed members to re-enter the labour market.

External links

* [http://www.solidaritysa.co.za/ Solidarity's website] Available in Afrikaans and English
* [http://www.afriforum.co.za/english/index.php AfriForum's website] Available in Afrikaans and English
* [http://www.helpinghandfund.co.za/index.php Solidarity Helping Hand's website] Available in Afrikaans and English
* [http://www.sol-tech.co.za/engels/index.php Sol-Tech's website] Available in Afrikaans and English
* [http://www.expresspersonnel.co.za/ Express Personnel's website] Available in English
* [http://www.solvita.co.za/English/index.htm SolVita's website] Available in Afrikaans and English
* [http://www.solidarityinstitute.co.za/ Institute for Constitutional and Labour Law Studies' website] Available in Afrikaans and English
* [http://www.afrinetwerk.be/afrikaans/ Afrinetwerk's website] Available in Afrikaans and Dutch
* [http://www.consawu.co.za/ Consawu's website] Available in English
* [http://www.ituc-csi.org/ ITUC's website] Available in English, German, French and Spanish

Further Reading

Visser, WP. 2002. "Van MWU tot Solidariteit; Geskiedenis van die Mynwerkersunie, 1902 tot 2002". ISBN 978-0-620-42142-3

Visser, WP. 2006. From MWU to Solidarity; A trade union reinventing itself. "South African Journal of Labour Relations", 30(2), 2006, pp.19-41

Hermann, Dirk. 2007. "The Naked Emperor; Why affirmative action failed". Protea Book House. ISBN 978-1-86919-143-6 (Originally published in Afrikaans as: "Die Keiser is Kaal; Hoekom regstellende aksie misluk het". ISBN 978-1-86919-142-9)


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