General and Allied Workers' Union explained

The General and Allied Workers' Union (GAWU) was a general union in South Africa.

Background

The union originated as the Transvaal section of the Black Allied Workers' Union.[1] In 1980, Rita Ndzanga and Mary Ntsike led a split which became GAWU. It formed as a non-racial union.[1] Its members were made up of people from the brush and copper industries, mining house office workers, cleaners, scooter drivers, and petrol and transport workers.[1] Numerous local South African Congress of Trade Unions activists also joined, including Samson Ndou, Ephraim Shabangu, Samuel Pholoto and Sydney Mufamadi.[2] [3]

By 1985, the union had 19,076 members. That year, it was a founding affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions.[4] In 1987, it merged with the Health and Allied Workers' Union and the South African Allied Workers' Union, to form the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union.[5]

References

  1. Book: Davies, Rob. The Struggle for South Africa.. O'Meara. Dan. Dlamini. Sipho. Zed Books. 1984. 0862322561. 2. London. Internet Archive.
  2. Book: Miller . Shirley . Trade Unions in South Africa 1970-1980: a directory and statistics . 1982 . Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit . Cape Town . 0799204692.
  3. Book: The road to democracy in South Africa . 2006 . South African Democracy Education Trust . 13 March 2021 . 17 June 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210617041807/http://psimg.jstor.org/fsi/img/pdf/t0/10.5555/al.sff.document.sadet005_final.pdf . dead .
  4. Web site: COSATU turns 20! . NUMSA . 13 March 2021.
  5. Book: Bendix . Sonia . Industrial Relations in the New South Africa . 1996 . Creda Press . Cape Town . 0702134538.