Reuters reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Friday that it was still open to wage talks with power utility Eskom after rejecting a 5% pay rise.
The union on Wednesday seemed to suggest it expected talks to break down because the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) had declined to raise tariffs by as much as Eskom had requested. But on Friday, NUM said Eskom's failure to secure the tariff increase it wanted could not be used as an excuse for wage demands not being met. The union said in a statement: “Our members demand a salary increase of 18% for the lowest paid workers and 15% for the highest paid workers." A second round of wage talks will be held on 25 to 27 May 2016.
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page