SADTU celebrates 23 years
South Africa's biggest education union SADTU celebrates its 23rd birthday today. The Union was born on the sixth of October 1990 in at Nasrec in Johannesburg at a function addressed by former State President Nelson Mandela.
Today, the Union celebrates its growth and achievements. From a union which started with close to 30 000 membership, today SADTU has grown to 260 000 members making it the biggest teacher union which now no longer focus on working amongst teachers only but everyone who works in the education arena.
The union has successfully fought for rights such as the right to collective bargaining, four months maternity leave for teachers and pay parity. The union has not only fought for rights as workers but for quality education as well. The union has spent huge sums on money to train its members. We have recently trained about 420 principals in School Management and Training (SMT) in order to better equip them to better manage and lead their schools.
One of the milestones of the Union is the establishment of the Curtis Nkondo Teacher Development Institute officially launched earlier this year to provide courses to uplift teachers.
The Union has over the 23 years tirelessly fought for better salaries for teachers and has in most circumstances, fought successfully so.