First appointed Deputy Minister of Finance under Derek Keyes and then under Chris Liebenberg in the GNU. Alec Erwin is the former Minister of Trade and Industry.
Erwin was born in January 1948 in Cape Town but attended various schools throughout Southern Africa before matriculating at Durban High School. He completed his B Econ (Hons) at the University of Natal, Durban. During his time at university Erwin assisted in the Wages Commission project. Among the few cabinet recruitments from the labour movement Erwin has a long track record of working in the labour unions, he battled state adversity through the 1970s and 1980s to shape the unions into a political force to be reckoned with.
He was involved together with Eddie Webster, Rick Turner and Halton Cheadle in the Institute for Industrial Education in the early seventies.
He was general secretary in the Federation of South African Trade Unions, a forerunner of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, from 1979 to 1981.
From February 1986 Erwin was the education officer at Cosatu. He was responsible for the development of training programmes within Cosatu and its affiliates. At the end of 1987 Erwin became national education secretary for Numsa.
An economic strategist, Erwin has helped shape the economic analysis of the union movement, as Cosatu's co-ordinator of the Economic Trends Group. He helped develop the labour movements economic solution to South Africa's problems, the Industrial Strategy Project. He also played a role in the ANC-constructed Macro-Economic Research Group, now called the National Institute of Economic Policy.
Erwin provided input for the ANC's Reconstruction and Development Programme and helped in editing the final document.
Erwin has repeatedly emphasised the need for government to maintain financial discipline in the face of pressure for increased state spending.
Erwin was born in January 1948 in Cape Town but attended various schools throughout Southern Africa before matriculating at Durban High School. He completed his B Econ (Hons) at the University of Natal, Durban. During his time at university Erwin assisted in the Wages Commission project. Among the few cabinet recruitments from the labour movement Erwin has a long track record of working in the labour unions, he battled state adversity through the 1970s and 1980s to shape the unions into a political force to be reckoned with.
He was involved together with Eddie Webster, Rick Turner and Halton Cheadle in the Institute for Industrial Education in the early seventies.
He was general secretary in the Federation of South African Trade Unions, a forerunner of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, from 1979 to 1981.
From February 1986 Erwin was the education officer at Cosatu. He was responsible for the development of training programmes within Cosatu and its affiliates. At the end of 1987 Erwin became national education secretary for Numsa.
An economic strategist, Erwin has helped shape the economic analysis of the union movement, as Cosatu's co-ordinator of the Economic Trends Group. He helped develop the labour movements economic solution to South Africa's problems, the Industrial Strategy Project. He also played a role in the ANC-constructed Macro-Economic Research Group, now called the National Institute of Economic Policy.
Erwin provided input for the ANC's Reconstruction and Development Programme and helped in editing the final document.
Erwin has repeatedly emphasised the need for government to maintain financial discipline in the face of pressure for increased state spending.
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