The National Employees' Trade Union (NETU) was a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representing workers in various industries, principally relating to engineering, in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The union was founded on 1 August 1995, when the Amalgamated Engineering Union of South Africa merged with the Engineering, Industrial and Mining Workers' Union, the Iron Moulders' Society of South Africa, and the

South African Boilermakers' Society The South African Boilermakers', Iron and Steel Workers', Shipbuilders' and Welders' Society (SABS) was a trade union representing metalworkers and shipbuilders in South Africa. History The union was established in 1916. Many of its founding mem ...

. On formation, it had 66,000 members, but this fell rapidly, many employees transferring to the rival

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

union. It was down to 26,000 members by 2003. In April 2003, it merged into the

United Association of South Africa The UASA is a general union in South Africa. Background The union was founded on 1 April 1998, when the Administrative, Technical and Electronic Association of South Africa merged with the Underground Officials' Association. It affiliated t ...

.{{cite book , last1=Mantashe , first1=Gwede , title=The decline of the mining industry and the response of the mining unions , date=2008 , publisher=University of the Witwatersrand , location=Johannesburg

References

Engineering trade unions Trade unions established in 1995 Trade unions disestablished in 2003 Trade unions in South Africa