Eskom: Ramaphosa gets wheels turning
• High-level interventions under way to sell a revised wage offer to striking workers
As SA remains saddled with stage 4 and stage 6 load-shedding, high-level interventions are under way to ensure workers who have started to return after having embarked on an illegal and violent strike at Eskom will be satisfied with a revised wage offer expected to be tabled on Friday.
Business Day can confirm President Cyril Ramaphosa intervened on Tuesday to resolve the impasse in wage talks. That was after Eskom announced that sabotage and intimidation by striking workers resulted in a 90% stayaway at many power plants, which forced it to implement stage 6 load-shedding for the first time since 2019.
Ramaphosa, who arrived back in SA after the Group of Seven summit in Germany on Tuesday morning, received an immediate briefing from public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, who was asked to do what is needed to ensure power is restored immediately.
It is also understood that Ramaphosa held a bilateral meeting with Gordhan and Eskom management on how the government could improve the 4%-5.3% wage increase offer. Unions are demanding between 10% and 12%.
Bloomberg reported that Eskom is now offering workers a one-year 7% raise on a sliding scale, with higher earners receiving slightly less. But the offer is expected to be tabled to union members only on Friday for their approval.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, was categoric that load-shedding could not continue unabated and the strike at Eskom is illegal.
“His message to them was clear: do your best to provide a solution as quickly as possible.
“We are in the middle of winter and no-one is going to be tolerant,” Magwenya told Business Day.
Eskom said in a statement on Wednesday that it would continue to implement stage 6 and stage 4 load-shedding on Wednesday and Thursday.
“While some workers have started reporting for duty at the
power stations, there is still a high level of absenteeism. As a result of the unlawful strike, routine maintenance work has had to be postponed.
“This backlog will take days to weeks to clear.
“It is therefore important to note that the system will remain constrained and vulnerable to additional breakdowns while recovery activities are in progress,” Eskom said.
Due to the unlawful and unprotected labour action, which has caused widespread disruption at power plants,
Eskom has been unable to return some generators to service as planned.
Magwenya said Ramaphosa is deeply concerned by the acts of sabotage and intimidation, which included petrol bombs, to try to stop all work at Eskom in demand for a high wage.
“It is tragic that union leaders are engaging in an approach that ultimately will have a devastating impact on workers. Short-term gains are not worth losing an entire job a few months later,” Magwenya said.
He added that if no-one was arrested or charged, Eskom could not continue to make allegations of sabotage to explain load-shedding. “Action on intimidation is extremely important. Eskom needs the support of law-enforcement agencies. If it is allowed to continue, it will become a norm,” he warned.
Eskom has been clear that it cannot afford a wage increase of more than 5.5% without cutting spending elsewhere.
CEO André de Ruyter said during a media briefing on Tuesday that the latest tariff increase approved by the National Energy Regulator of SA allows for a total wage increase of 5.5% across Eskom’s entire staff complement.
“This is a constrained financial situation. If we are to extend an increase beyond what we’ve offered, we will have to find savings somewhere else,” De Ruyter said.
RAMAPHOSA IS DEEPLY CONCERNED BY ACTS OF SABOTAGE, WHICH INCLUDE PETROL BOMBS
THE LATEST TARIFF INCREASE APPROVED BY THE REGULATOR ALLOWS FOR A TOTAL WAGE INCREASE OF 5.5%