The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) states that it was not consulted by Eskom about the plans to retrench employees, National Secretary of NUM’s National Youth Structure (NUM-YS), Bonginkosi Mrasi says on Friday.
Mrasi says a statement was released last week to NUM referring to the retrenchment process in terms of the Labour Relations Act, followed by letters detailing which levels will be affected.
Eskom indicated that the constant increase in operating costs has resulted in a strategy to retrench a number of its employees.
“We are saying let us be consulted. Let us sit around the table and bring ideas of how to save the utility… So cutting jobs can’t be a step in the right direction,” Mrasi says.
The Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, has stated that the South African power utility could face approximately 30 000 job cuts.
A report which was released by the World Bank in 2016 showed that Eskom was overstaffed by 66%.
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