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News24Wire reports that according to Eskom CEO André de Ruyter, the state-owned power utility does not anticipate any unlawful strikes or disruptions at its operations in the course of current wage negotiations with unions.
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) came out swinging at Eskom management on Monday for not accepting its demands for a 15% wage increase across the board. It said that De Ruyter was undermining the Eskom Central Bargaining Forum by engaging with workers directly and alleged that the power utility was perpetuating a "false narrative" that it could not afford the increases, when it was spending billions burning diesel. "It is glaringly obvious that the wage bill is not responsible for Eskom's poor financial position. Why are workers being punished for bloated procurement expenditure?" Numsa asked. De Ruyter said on Monday that Eskom was still "in a loss-making situation" even though its financial position had improved somewhat. "I'm not sure where the idea comes from that there is an excess of cash available. That is certainly not the case. We are unfortunately not in a position where we can respond by acceding to labour demands for a double-digit increase given the constrained financial position Eskom finds itself in. We can rely on our employees to support us, and we don't anticipate any unlawful industrial action," commented De Ruyter. Meantime, there is currently a dispute between Eskom and Numsa at the CCMA over the 1.5% increase implement by the utility in 2021. "The 1.5% was implemented unilaterally, as is Eskom's right. Unions have taken us on review on that, as is their right,” De Ruyter noted. He explained that he did communicate with employees of Eskom and “I do believe it is my duty to do so," as he wanted to counter "false narratives" that crept in when messages to workers went through intermediaries.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News
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