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Eskom to table final wage offer on Thursday

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The crucial Eskom wage negotiations have been adjourned to Thursday. This was to allow Eskom management to consult their principals about the unions’ rejection of the revised offer of 5 percent.

National Union of Mineworkers (Num), National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and Solidarity have urged the power utility to present a new offer that they can take back to their members.

Numsa Secretary-General, Irvin Jim, says if Eskom tables a better offer on Thursday, unions may also shift from their nine-percent demand.

“When Eskom presented the 5 percent, we rejected it. We called on them to be sober and give their final offer which we can be able to consider. We had views on how we can move but we wanted Eskom to be serious and so we remain from where we were, we understand this to be negotiations but Eskom has not presented an offer that’s worth shifting form our positions.”

The National Union of Mineworkers had earlier indicated that it would only entertain a wage offer of below nine percent if it is a one-year deal.  Wage talks at Eskom resumed on Wednesday.

“We can settle on the nine percent , from there we can bargain again from those positions  but if we do that is going to be a one year deal.   We don’t accept the five percent obviously they also don’t accept the nine percent. But we have to move from nine percent it would mean that we are now out of the long term deal,” says NUM’s Deputy General Secretary, William Mabapa.

However the majority union, NUM, seems to be losing patience with the negotiations. It says it is prepared to revert back to demanding a double digit increase if Eskom does not come up to the 9 percent agreed by all three unions.

The smallest of the three unions, Solidarity, maintains that the unions are still united.  On Thursday, Eskom is expected to table its final offer, then, the unions will decide what to do. Click below for more on the story: 

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