BDLive reports that wage negotiations at Eskom are due to resume on Wednesday next week with a second round of talks.  

The power utility said on Thursday its opening wage offer of between 5% and 6% was made in the context of its massive ongoing capacity expansion programme.  Unions are demanding wage increases of between 9.5% and 18% and have rejected Eskom’s opening offer, which the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) described as "lousy".  The NUM called for a substantial increase in order to address inflationary concerns and continued income differentials at the utility and also claimed that Eskom executives were in line to receive bonuses.  Solidarity said on Thursday it considered Eskom’s offer as a simple opening gambit.  The union’s Deon Reyneke said they believed they could motivate their 9.5% demand as the current turnaround at Eskom was bearing results.

• Read this report by Karl Gernetzky in full at BDLive
• See too, Eskom believes 5% pay hike offered to employees is sufficient, at EWN

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