Unions reject new 5% Eskom offer
One more day of talks to go before CCMA option
Cash-strapped Eskom is expected to table its final salary increase offer today after unions unanimously rejected its revised proposal of 5% yesterday.
Unions dismissed the latest offer as “not even worth” taking back to their members, and asked Eskom to take the ongoing negotiations more seriously.
Eskom topped its initial offer of 4.7% by an additional 0.3% – linked to the inflation rate – in Johannesburg yesterday.
The embattled power utility, which seeks a longer three-year deal, proposed an additional 0.6% and 0.7% on top of any future inflation rate in the last two years. This comes after the utility’s board met on Monday to discuss the unions’ latest salary increase demand.
Deputy general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) William Mabapa said the revised offer was disappointing.
“If you want to sign a longterm deal, that has to have guaranteed figures... it’s a different ball game because inflation can go down to 4%. That’s something we don’t accept.”
The new round of negotiations came after the power utility’s initial 4.7% salary increase offer, tabled last week, was also rejected as unions revised their demand to 9%.
Unions had also presented several suggestions on how Eskom could improve its balance sheet, among them by cutting the size of the executive and senior managers from more than 500 to 200.
The three unions also proposed that Eskom should do away with sourcing energy from independent power producers at a higher cost.
National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa’s Irvin Jim said if Eskom addressed its cost drivers immediately, it would be able to offer workers a better deal.
The three unions, including Solidarity, presented their joint response to the 5% offer late in the afternoon yesterday.
Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said: “Eskom would like to give [the negotiations] a chance before making any public pronouncements on this matter.”