Eskom confident lights will stay on during strike

ESKOM is unfazed by 15 000 of its employees going on strike.

So confident is it in its level of coal and diesel reserves that the utility has assured South Africans it will keep their lights on well into the future.

As negotiations between Eskom and the unions – Solidarity, the National Union of Mineworkers and the National Union of Metal Workers of SA – on wages and ending the illegal strike resumed yesterday, the utility’s spokesman, Khulu Phasiwe, said they had two months worth of coal reserves.

“The transport of coal to our power stations has not been affected, so far, by the strike,” he said.

“On top of this, we have enough diesel reserves, that even if the coal supplies and reserves are affected, we can still keep the lights on for months.”

Phasiwe was speaking as 15 000 NUM members, including technicians, defied a court interdict and downed tools yesterday.

On Tuesday, Eskom successfully obtained an interdict to have any strike by its workers declared illegal.

Phasiwe said the strikers made up less than a third of the total workforce.

“We have 47 000 employees in total. Of these, 32 000 are not aligned to NUM,” he said.

“These workers are helping to ensure that we can keep the lights on despite the strike.”

The strike, which would result in “fair disciplinary action” being taken against the striking workers, had seen small pockets of protesters gathering outside some of the utility’s power plants.

“On Tuesday, the unions came down from their 13% wage increase demand to 10%,” Phasiwe said.

“That’s just a few per cent from what Eskom is offering, which is between 7% and 9%.” He said Eskom was not panicking. “Things are looking good. We are hopeful that the meeting with the unions, which all parties agreed to, will soon result in a resolution.

“We definitely do not see this strike becoming protracted.

“Even if it is, we are confident in the level of our reserve supplies.”

The union’s spokesman, Livhuwani Mammburu, told Reuters its members were on strike in provinces where Eskom runs its biggest plants.