What Eskom workers really earn
TRUE STORY: WHAT ESKOM WORKERS REALLY EARN APART FROM BONUSES
Economists angered unions by saying employees get good money.
Despite the fact that Eskom workers are classified as providing an essential service, and therefore are precluded from lawful strike action, workers went on a wage-related strike – characterised by the intimidation of colleagues and the alleged sabotage of Eskom operations – which resulted in load shedding countrywide.
Since Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan intervened, saying the 0% increase is off the table, it seems negotiations might proceed. But how sound is the workers’ case?
Last week, renowned economist Mike Schussler angered unions when he tweeted that the average remuneration per employee at Eskom is R798 000 per year.
Schussler continued to say that even if the income of executives and senior managers is excluded, Eskom workers still earned over R600 000 per year on average.
In an article discussing Eskom’s unsustainable wage bill, Nedbank Group chief executive Mike Brown quoted a number of R770 000 per annum.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) angrily hit back saying:
About 37 000 of the 43 000 employees of Eskom as a company (not the group) belong to the bargaining unit. It is their salary increases that are now being negotiated between the unions and Eskom management.
Workers are in ten salary bands, the lowest earners earning R135 390 per annum and the highest R595 410 per annum.
That means bargaining unit members earn between R11 282,50 and R49 617.50 per month.
It is therefore clear that the majority of Eskom workers do not earn Schussler’s average of R798 000 per person per year or Brown’s R770 000 per person per year. To be able to compare with salaries elsewhere, one also has to know what the jobs entail.
Moneyweb got this rough indication from an informed source:
The lowest scale T04 refers to general labourers who earn between R11 282 and R16 915 per month.
T06-T08 are the clerks and secretaries, earning from R14 330 to R27 292 per month.
Artisans and power station operators are on scales T08-T09, earning between R20 510 and R34 665 per month.
Grade T11/P11 refers to senior artisans and senior unit controllers earning between R26 045 and R39 072 per month.
Grade T12/P12 refers to supervisors who earn between R29 357 and R44 032 per month and Grade T13/P13 are entry level professionals who are not in management, earning between R33 085 and R49 617 per month.
In assessing the case of the Eskom workers, it has to be noted that the utility’s expenditure on bonuses almost doubled to R4.2 billion last year.
In fact, on July 11 last year almost all Eskom staff got performance bonuses at an average of R88 883.35 per employee. While averages once again do not show whether the members of the bargaining unit got their “fair share”, the unions were quiet at the time.
Eskom at the time showed a loss of R870 million for the year ended March 31, 2017.
If Eskom were run like a business, would it have considered salary increases amid doubts that it could continue as a going concern? Would its shareholders have intervened to reopen negotiations with unions and take the 0% off the table? No. But Eskom is a stateowned company, funded by consumers and the taxpayer.
With a politician representing the shareholder. Approaching an election.