BL Premium reports that Eskom’s management and trade unions are expected to meet at the company’s bargaining forum this week to try to hammer out a new wage deal for the state-owned power utility’s employees.
Leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which represents the majority of Eskom’s 46,000-strong workforce, and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) said the unions would be demanding a one-year, 15% wage increase. In comparison, the consumer inflation rate in March was 3.2%, while the Reserve Bank expects an average of 4.3% for 2021. The utility pays the third-highest average salary in SA — R785,557 a year — but is buckling under a R480bn debt pile and depends on government bailouts to keep the lights on and the economy functioning. The NUM’s William Mabapa said the union was aware of the challenges facing Eskom. Calling on the Eskom management to negotiate in good faith, he said: “The failures of the company are mostly attributed to poor decision-making from both management and the shareholder. The NUM believes that the demands are reasonable and achievable. The company is doing well in recovering all the monies that were stolen. Our members deserve a share from that money.” Numsa’s Phakamile Hlubi-Majola commented: “If Eskom is prepared to give coal suppliers an increase of 14%, then our members are entitled to the same or better.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
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