Solly Phetoe is a South African trade union leader. Phetoe was born in

Broederstroom Broederstroom is a village situated beside the R512 (South Africa), R512 road on the Daspoortrand (former Pretoria district) in the Witwatersrand, the southern foothills of the Magaliesberg in North West Province (South Africa), North West Provinc ...

and grew up in Skeerport. He studied at the Eden College of Braamfontein, where he became involved in anti-apartheid activism. In 1982, he became a machine operator at the

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey S. Firestone (18681938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, carriages, and other form ...

, where he joined the

Metal and Allied Workers' Union The Metal and Allied Workers' Union (MAWU) was a trade union representing workers in metalworking, engineering and related industries in South Africa. The union was founded in April 1974 in Pietermaritzburg, with the assistance of the General Fa ...

. This became part of the

National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) is the biggest single trade union in South Africa with more than 338,000 members, and prior to its expulsion on 8 November 2014, the largest affiliate of the Congress of South African Tr ...

(NUMSA). Phetoe became 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 ...

, and later worked full-time covering the tyre industry for the union. In 2000, Phetoe became a provincial organiser for the South African Democratic Teachers Union, then in 2003 became the North West provincial organiser for the

Congress of South African Trade Unions The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU or Cosatu) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country's three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions.One Union ...

(COSATU). He served in this post until 2015, when he was elected as the federation's deputy general secretary, defeating Oscar Phaka. In the role he took the lead on enforcing

occupational health Occupational safety and health (OSH) or occupational health and safety (OHS) is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at work (i.e., while performing duties required by one's occupation). OSH is re ...

and safety agreements. In 2022, he was elected as general secretary of the federation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phetoe, Solly Year of birth missing (living people) Living people South African trade union leaders