Solidarity announces new leadership

The trade union Solidarity announced a new leadership structure after its national general council meeting on Monday.

"The objective of the new structure is to strengthen the Solidarity Movement," said Flip Buys, who would now be the chairman of the Solidarity Movement.

He said the new structure would help establish Solidarity as a leader in dealing with new problems facing trade unions in the information era.

Eighteen institutions formed part of the Solidarity Movement.

These included Solidarity trade union, AfriForum, Solidarity Helping Hands, Akademia, the FAK, Sol-Tech, the Solidarity Investment Company, and Solidarity Financial Services.

The new chief executive of Solidarity is Dirk Hermann.

He would be responsible for guiding Solidarity into its new era.

This included strengthening Solidarity's collective side, improving individual services, launching a new electronic trade union platform, Solidarity's affirmative action strategy, as well as expanding Solidarity's plans for education and training.

Hermann said one of Solidarity's major strategic moves would be to invest in training.

"We believe that in this knowledge economy, trade unions should assist their members in acquiring knowledge. That is the best way to assure they and their children have good jobs."

Gideon du Plessis remained Solidarity general secretary and would be responsible for all labour relations and collective bargaining issues.