Improve skills to raise income: union

Workers should become part of a culture of life-long learning to improve their skills and increase their income, trade union Solidarity said on Tuesday.

“This year employees should not only ask for double-figure increases; they should aspire to doubling their salaries through improved skills,” Solidarity said in a Workers' Day statement.

To boost this campaign, Solidarity will make money available to help members keep up with training through a R5 million fund drawn from union membership contributions.

They would also establish a R150 million training campus shortly.

“Die Kampus” will be the home of Sol-Tech and Akademia, a technical college and higher-education institution of the Solidarity Movement.

“The information era is causing knowledge to increase so rapidly that no-one can afford not to embark on life-long learning,” said Flip Buys, Solidarity general secretary.

“We believe that trade unions' new strategic role in South Africa should be to make members more employable by improving their skills. This is the best route to job security in South Africa,” Buys said.

If trade unions, in partnership with government and the private sector, could succeed in raising the skills ceiling through training, it would also raise the economic-growth ceiling.

Improved economic growth would ultimately lead to job creation poverty alleviation, he said. - Sapa