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BL Premium reports that the two largest trade unions at Eskom say they have yet to be called into talks with the government and Eskom to discuss the company’s future.
The co-operation of the unions — the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) — is essential to the success of any restructuring project. The restructuring proposal is to split Eskom into three stand-alone parts: generation, which includes the power plants; transmission, which is the national electricity grid; and distribution, which are the poles and wires. However, both unions recently turned down a request for a meeting with the Eskom chief restructuring office headed by Freeman Nomvalo, on the grounds that the government has already set up a committee in Nedlac for the negotiations. The Nedlac committee has never met. Numsa is not represented in Nedlac and intends to approach the statutory body to be represented on the six-a-side team. The government, which is racing against time to produce a credible road map of the restructuring and refinancing plan for Eskom in time for the tabling of the medium-term budget policy statement at the end of October, last met the trade unions before the election. Both the NUM and Numsa held meetings over the weekend to formulate their ideas on Eskom’s restructuring. The NUM held a national executive committee meeting, which discussed Eskom, and Numsa held a workshop with shop stewards. The unions’ stance, articulated on Friday, did not differ much from their earlier blanket rejection of the restructuring proposal.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carol Paton at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page