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Bloomberg reports that SA’s main business lobby group, Business Unity SA (Busa), has welcomed proposals by the nation’s biggest trade union federation to rescue debt-stricken power utility Eskom.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Monday presented its plan to the President’s Working Council, which includes government, business and labour leaders. The labour federation proposed that state-owned institutions take over R254-billion of Eskom’s debt. “We welcome the constructive approach,” said Martin Kingston, Busa vice president, on Monday. He indicated that the business community was in alignment with Cosatu on many of Eskom’s problems that the labour federation had identified. He remarked that within the constraints that any lending should not breach the mandates or affect the fiduciaries of the organisations involved, “we are more than happy, very happy and keen to work with Cosatu and other social partners” to resolve Eskom’s debt problems. Cosatu’s plan would leave Eskom with R200 billion of debt, an amount the utility has previously said it could manage. Cosatu apparently garnered support for its proposals from the rival Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) and the National Clothing and Textile and Allied Workers’ Union, along with community groups. Matthew Parks, Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator, described Monday’s meeting as “very positive,” with participants agreeing to hold a second meeting under the auspices of the National Economic Development & Labour Council (Nedlac) on 5 February.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News
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