Following a successful vote and presentation by the National Tertiary Education Staff Union (NTESU) at the recent congress of the National Union of Tertiary Employees of South Africa (NUTESA), the two largest tertiary-education unions in South Africa have agreed to enter a period of engagement on amalgamation.  The move follows several years of a “One Voice” campaign conversation and trends in the international union movement which have seen mergers in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

In the long-awaited vote at the NUTESA congress, its branches agreed to a memorandum of agreement to establish a joint task team to develop a proposal on amalgamation. In the face of attacks on academic freedom, attrition in the established posts of institutions, low salary rates, and deteriorating conditions of service, it is increasingly being seen as imperative that a single voice appears to speak for union members in the tertiary-education sector.

NTESU national deputy president, John Landman, said, “With a potential to attract 25,000 or more members from the 21 institutions of higher education, and more if the further-education colleges are included in the recruiting pool, the prospect of combating the problems faced by the sector and raging managerialism on campuses would be hugely improved by a merger.”

It is believed most of the gains from an amalgamation would be at the national, consultative level with the Ministry of Education, Council on Higher Education, and the employer body, Higher Education South Africa.