Eskom ups wage offer, but will it light up SA?
Normality has been restored at some power stations, but other strikers vow to only return once deal is signed
Faced with a drastically reduced capacity to generate power, Eskom, with its back against the wall, revised its salary increase offer on Tuesday to 7% under the pressure of plunging SA into disastrous stage 6 blackouts.
Reduced capacity was worsened by an illegal strike, during which some workers were intimidated and kept away from work.
Several striking employees had said they will accept 7% but unions are expected to respond formally to the offer on Friday in the central bargaining forum.
This is a step up from the power utility’s 4% to 5.3% offer, which is staggered across different worker categories.
Unions came into the negotiations demanding a double-digit increase while Eskom initially offered nothing, stating it did not afford any increases before tabling a 1.5% offer, which was rejected.
Asked if Eskom’s improved offer was made in a desperate bid to stop the strike, the power utility’s spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said: “Of course that’s correct, despite the strike action being unlawful.
Without the workers on the plant you cannot repair machines, and you cannot feed the commodities into the generators.”
He said: “So Eskom had to do whatever it could to bring the unions back into the house.”
However, not all the workers heeded the call to return to work. Others, including at the Lethabo power station in the Free State, protested outside the station.
“Some said they were willing to accept the 7% revised offer but were only prepared to call off the strike once an agreement is signed.
“We are willing to take the offer, but we can’t rush to call off the strike as nothing has been signed,” said a female electrician who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The electrician, who has been with Eskom for more than a decade, said despite prices of food and other services having gone up, her take-home salary had shrunk because Eskom reduced their benefits, including the Sunday doublepay and transport allowances for those on standby shifts.
Another worker said the 7% offer was tempting but only if Eskom returned their other benefits which were taken away last year.
“If we get back our allowances, 7% is not a bad offer at all,” the worker said.
The striking workers complained about struggling to make ends meet due to rising costs of food, fuel and other services.
“I have children and siblings in varsity who need financial assistance from me, and I am struggling to stay afloat as things stand while Eskom is refusing to accept a reasonable salary increase demand from unions,” another electrician said.
Though Eskom announced workers had been intimidated, including at Lethabo power station early this week, striking workers denied on Wednesday there was any intimidation directed at workers who were willing to go to work.
“Even now as you can see, the power station is operational, four of the five units are online working. The only unit that’s not working
is on scheduled maintenance,” another worker said.
Eskom also announced several houses belonging to Lethabo power station employees had been torched by striking workers.
Mantshantsha said Eskom would not be revealing those torched properties to the media because they were private residences.
Eskom said on Wednesday afternoon that while some workers had started returning to work, “there is still a high level of absenteeism ” .
Livhuwani Mammburu, spokesperson for the majority union at Eskom, the National Union of Mineworkers, said dozens of workers opted to stay away on Wednesday, saying they would return to work once a salary increase agreement is signed.
“We can confirm from the reports and update that we’ve got from all over the country that workers at Duvha, Kriel, Kendal, Matimba and Medupe power stations are back to work ... We are facing challenges at Matla, Hendrina, Arnot and Lethabo power stations, where some workers say they can’t normalise the situation when there’s no wage agreement signed,” Mammburu said.