The National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa has rejected claims which they call “false” that power utility Eskom cannot afford wage increases for workers.
Numsa’s spokesperson, Phakamile Hlubi-Majola today said that they met together with other unions to table their demands and get feedback from Eskom on the demands they had put on the table in the first round.
Hlubi-Majola said Eskom had instead not responded to their wage demand of 15% after tabling a
The National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa has rejected claims which they call “false” that power utility Eskom cannot afford wage increases for workers.
Numsa’s spokesperson, Phakamile Hlubi-Majola today said that they met together with other unions to table their demands and get feedback from Eskom on the demands they had put on the table in the first round.
Hlubi-Majola said Eskom had instead not responded to their wage demand of 15% after tabling a 1.5 percent wage offer at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
“Instead, Eskom has responded to the outstanding demand of resolving the apartheid wage gap, or the ‘income differentials’ but it has not tabled a proposal for the wage increase,” Hlubi-Majola said.
In 2016, an agreement was signed detailing how the gap will be narrowed over time by increasing wages incrementally in order to reduce the wage differentials.
“Eskom is refusing to address the issue of the wage demand. Let us be clear, we demand that the income differentials must be reduced, and we demand an increase in wages for the 2022/23 financial year,” she said.
Hlubi-Majola said their demands were affordable compared to what Eskom was spending on diesel to keep the lights on.
“These are the same people who are still overspending on diesel. For example, Eskom reportedly told NEDLAC that it predicted it would spend a minimum of R20.9 billion on diesel for the current financial year in order to fuel the open cycle gas turbines,” she said.
Hlubi-Majola said Eskom management had no justification for claiming they cannot afford the union’s demands.
“Workers have not received a meaningful increase in two years and morale is very low, but execs continue to waste money paying for inflated contracts,” she said.
“Given these facts Eskom management has clearly demonstrated that it can afford workers’ demands and so, we will not accept anything less than a double-digit increase.”
Responding to Numsa, Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter said the power utility did not anticipate any unlawful strikes or disruptions at its operations while a wage dispute with unions was being dealt with.
De Ruyter said that while Eskom management preferred not to have wage discussions publicly, they had acceded to above-inflation increases in the past, which was no longer sustainable because of the entity’s current financial position.
“If you look at the wage agreement in 2018, which allowed three years of 8% increases for workers belonging to the bargaining unit, this means we have given them a 26% increase since 2018. That is significantly higher than inflation,” said De Ruyter.
“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.”
