BusinessLive reports that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has announced that Eskom has taken its contentious 0% wage increase offer off the negotiation table.  

The stalemate over the offer collapsed wage negotiations at the state-owned power utility Eskom and led to protests and pickets on Thursday.  Wage negotiations between Eskom and its labour unions, namely Solidarity, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), will resume following Gordhan’s meeting with the parties and the Eskom board on Friday.  NUM and Numsa members are demanding 15% wage increases, while Solidarity members are demanding 9%.  Labour has lodged disputes at the CCMA, steps that could open the way for the possibility of strike action.  While Eskom employees are classed as essential services and cannot strike, the unions said they were intending on challenging the provision at the CCMA until a strike certificate was granted.  On Friday Eskom obtained a court interdict against all forms of industrial action, including acts of sabotage and intimidation, against the unions and their members.  Gordhan said the parties agreed that operations would be normalised “immediately” and that production would be resumed to secure electricity supply.

• Read this report by Theto Mahlakoana in full at BusinessLive
• Read too, Eskom’s 0% wage offer off the table after Gordhan’s intervention, at EWN

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