Nehawu was formed on the 27 & 28 June 1987 out of the merger of three main unions:
The South African Allied Workers Union (SAAWU), Health and Allied Workers Union (HAWU), and general Workers Union (GAWU) in pursuit of the COSATU principles of “One industry One Union.” Nehawu was established with 5 000 members who mainly worked in old Age homes, Churches, Universities clinics and public hospitals. It grew fast in Health and Education which raised a possibility of an emergence of a giant public sector union in the belly of apartheid regime. Today Nehawu is the largest COSATU affiliate and one of the biggest public sector union with over 272 000 members.
Nehawu has constitutional structures from the workplace up to the national level:
- Branch at workplace
- Region (demarcation of the province)
- Province
- National
These structures operate in an interlink bases with each other. The union operates in seven distinct sectors, i.e. higher education, TVET & CET, public Health, Private health, Public Social Development, private social welfare / social development, Parastatals / state entities and state administration.
Nehawu strives to ensure that the workplace is well resourced environment which is free from all forms of exploitation. Nehawu is democratic transformative and patriotic union. The union is committed to continuously changing and transforming the workplace in order to improve the delivery of service to communities. We believe that whatever we do must enhance service delivery to members and the public in general.
