Fin24 reports that despite substantial political support for restructuring at Eskom, it appears as if the power utility is on a collision course with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) over its plans to unbundle.
This emerged after a discussion between Eskom management and unions over its recently-drafted turnaround strategy document. NUM has always been openly opposed to unbundling, and has previously said it needed to be convinced that it would be good for Eskom. And while NUM must still take the plan back to its members, now that the plan is in black-and-white, the union appears less convinced than ever. Last Friday, Eskom chairperson and acting CEO Jabu Mabuza sat down with NUM, the National Union of Metalworkers SA (Numsa) and Solidarity to discuss the much-awaited turnaround plan. In a statement, Mabuza said he hoped the meeting would provide "fertile ground" for future engagements. But that was not how majority union NUM’s representatives saw things. "We said (to Mabuza), 'you are violating consultation processes by trying to co-opt us'," NUM’s energy sector coordinator, Paris Mashego, indicated. The union undertook to take the turnaround strategy back to its members, and Mashego said there would be a NUM meeting in the first week of September to discuss it. But the NUM's opposition to unbundling is unlikely to change. Eskom management had taken a "straitjacket approach", Mashego claimed, adding that the power utility had left no room for negotiations on unbundling. Numsa and Solidarity have yet to formally respond to Eskom’s turnaround plan.
- Read the full original of the above report by Sarah Evans at Fin24
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