The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) says it’s going to court to seek an urgent interdict to stop Eskom from unilaterally implementing its offer of a 1.5% wage increase.
Eskom took the unions by surprise on Friday morning and announced the decision to implement the offer for all its employees from next month. This, despite the fact that unions have referred the wage dispute to the CCMA for arbitration.
Eskom says its decision to go ahead and implement the offer is aimed at protecting jobs and its financial sustainability. Management at the power utility says it will also unilaterally implement its decision to cut back on overtime payments, travel allowances and transfer benefits.
The NUM, which is the majority union at Eskom, says the move is unlawful.
“As the NUM as view that as unlawful…..because the process is still under way, we are not allowed to go on strike even if we have the certificate of non-resolution. So Eskom for it to decide to implement before the process is completed is unlawful and we have decided as the NUM to interdict the process as we are going to our lawyers and find a way of dealing with the situation,” says NUM’s Spokesperson on Energy, Khangela Baloyi.
NUM is demanding a 10% salary increase, lowered down from its initial 15% demand, while NUMSA also revised its wage demand down from 15% to 12%. Solidarity is demanding an increase of 9.5%.
Discussion over concern on the collapse of Eskom wage talks:
