Eskom to act against strikers
Dispute lodged at CCMA
Eskom employees will have to wait a while longer for their 7.5% salary increases as another dispute heads to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.
Eskom has lodged a fresh dispute with the CCMA which is expected to delay the implementation of the three-year salary increase agreement reached last week.
The new dispute centres around a precondition of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) that their members not be disciplined for taking part in an unprotected strike before they sign the wage agreement.
NUM spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said Eskom was taking a stance that was “unnecessarily stubborn”, despite having provoked workers by, among others, refusing to entertain the issue of bonuses during salary negotiations.
Numsa’s Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said: “Numsa is dismayed and extremely irritated by the position adopted by Eskom management led by Phakamani Hadebe and minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan.
“Eskom’s intention is to massively dismiss NUM and Numsa members.”
The two unions said they were not prepared to trade jobs for salary increases.
Eskom had indicated that it was not prepared to change its stance of taking action against those who protested about two weeks ago.
The power utility said after the initial June unprotected strike, it was agreed that unions would end all unlawful industrial actions with the company not taking any disciplinary action.
“In July some employees embarked on further unprotected industrial action until August 3 despite a court interdict and company communication to staff reminding employees that Eskom is an essential service,” spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said.