Randall Howard (born 1961) is a former South African trade unionist. Born in the

Bonteheuwel Bonteheuwel is a former Coloured township in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of So ...

area of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, Howard was the second-oldest of fourteen children. After completing school, he worked to support his family. From 1986, he worked at South African Container Depots (SACD), where he clandestinely operated as a

shop steward A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a trades/labour union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the un ...

for the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general union, general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900 ...

(TGWU). He soon became the chair of the shop stewards' committee, and organised events such as long union meetings on Friday, intended to disrupt port activities and encourage employers to engage with the union's demands. Howard's success led him to win election as chair of the TGWU's

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

branch. In 1988, he was sacked by SACD, and began working full-time for the union, serving as deputy general secretary, then from 1994 as the union's general secretary. He took it into a merger which formed the South African Transport and Allied Workers' Union, winning election as the new union's general secretary. In 2006, Howard was elected as the president of the

International Transport Workers' Federation The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is a democratic global union federation of transport workers' trade unions, founded in 1896. In 2017 the ITF had 677 member organizations in 149 countries, representing a combined membership o ...

. He stood down from his union positions in 2009, when he became an advisor to Richard Baloyi, the Minister of Public Services.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Randall 1961 births Living people People from Cape Town South African trade unionists