Bloomberg News reports that talks between state-owned power utility Eskom and its largest trade unions on wage increases have reached a stalemate.

The unions "responded with dismay" after negotiations failed to reach a conclusion during the final round on Wednesday. According to a statement issued by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Eskom highlighted that it was unprofitable and reiterated that it had made its final offer. The NUM called on its members to 'remain resolute" and focused on their demands. The utility was "sacrificing workers benefits, pension payouts and wages in order to fund the bloated cost of primary energy," the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) indicated on Thursday in a statement. The union lowered its own demand to a 12% wage increase across the board. Eskom confirmed that it had offered annual increases of 5.3%, 4.5% and 4% in the last negotiating round. It declined to comment further. The negotiations will now be extended to a fourth round after the unions have consulted with their members.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Paul Burkhardt at Fin24

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