Madisha to head newly formed trade union

ByMandisi Tyulu
21 June 2009

It has been announced that former South African Democratic Teachers’ Union president Willie Madisha will facilitate a new trade union federation which is expected to be in operation before the end of 2009.

The co-ordinating committee of the fledgling Congress of Independent Trade Unions of South Africa has boasted an increase in its support base.

The 20 member national committee gathered in Salt River in Cape Town yesterday and has promised that the new body would be independent from any political party.

The newly established trade union federation claims that it has more the 350 000 workers who have joined and are fully behind the organisation.
Members are said to be made up mostly of teachers, nurses and mine workers from across the country, who it claims, are unhappy about the manner in which they are being represented, adding that they are being neglected by the unions.

Madisha said workers were loosing jobs, and at times their lives, because of inadequate representation.

The federation has also committed itself to representing the working class and promised to remain independent from any political affiliation.