Today's Labour News

With the first round of Eskom wage negotiations having been concluded last week, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and Solidarity have confirmed that they have rejected Eskom’s offer of a 3.75% increase.

The negotiations will span three rounds of talks, with the next round due to start on 8 May. NUM and Numsa want a 15% pay rise, while Solidarity is demanding an increase of 3% above the average inflation rate, which surged to 7.1% in March. Numsa is demanding a two-year wage deal, while NUM and Solidarity want a single-term agreement. Eskom has refused to consider a multiyear wage agreement. Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena claimed the 3.75% offer was “reasonable” given the utility’s financial and operational position. Meantime, Solidarity’s Gideon du Plessis criticised the Eskom negotiating team for treating the wage talks lightly, saying the Eskom team had been “unprepared”, “destructive” and being generally sloppy during the first round of talks. The union leaders have accused Eskom’s GM for people relations, Thulane Ngele, of making “sarcastic” comments during talks and they want him removed from the Eskom negotiating team. “Ngele is toxic and his utterances are very provocative... He has no idea what meaningful engagement is, and he is rude and obnoxious in the manner that he communicates with labour in this forum,” claimed the unions. Union leaders reiterated that they thought Ngele was “dangerous and not the right person to help us to reach an amicable agreement during these wage talks”.

• Based on reports at Engineering News and BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
• Lees ook, Vakbonde verwerp Eskom-loonaanbod, by Maroela Media

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