Publications
Partners
If these talks between Eskom and the trade unions fail, there will be disastrous consequences.
This was the warning from all recognised trade unions at the power utility, who are working together to ensure their members get a salary increase this year.
Last week, Eskom offered its employees a “0% increase”, stating that there was simply no money.
Read: A wage hike will ‘derail Eskom recovery’
All recognised trade unions at Eskom – the National Union of Mineworkers, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, and Solidarity – met with Eskom management through the central bargaining forum to restart wage talks on Tuesday.
Read: Eskom strike ‘just the beginning’ – Numsa president
But in a joint press statement on Tuesday evening, the unions remained mum on what they thought of Eskom’s latest deal.
“All unions have received the offer and are debating it. We will give a joint response in the morning to Eskom management when the second day of wage talks resume on Wednesday. We cannot confirm at this time what our response to the offer is until we have communicated it to Eskom,” they said.
The offer
Eskom is offering a four-year wage deal with a guaranteed increase based on inflation.
For the year 2018 the offer is 4.7%, and an inflation-based increase every year thereafter for the next four years. All other demands which have been submitted remain unaltered.
It is Eskom’s proposal that all other demands regarding an increase in housing allowance; payment of performance bonus and insourcing and all other benefits will not be improved and remain unchanged.
‘Not taking us seriously’
The unions condemned Eskom for not taking the talks seriously, and for not sending a high-level delegation to the negotiating table.
“At the meeting with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan last Friday we called for a high powered delegation with the power and capacity to take decisions. We are disappointed that Eskom came to these wage talks without the presence of some board members or the presence of the group chief executive Phakamani Hadebe,” they said, adding that this was one of the fundamental conditions of the opening of wage talks.
“We want to engage but we cannot engage with people who do not have the power to take decisions. We demand the presence of the group chief executive at the meetings. The public is extremely anxious about the outcome of the talks because if they fail, it would have disastrous consequences for all of us. We demand the presence of a powered delegation in line with the commitment which was made to the minister by Eskom on Friday.”
They called on the power utility’s top management to take these talks seriously in order to ensure that the impasse can be resolved as soon as possible.
Unions had initially demanded a 15% pay rise but Eskom said it would keep wages unchanged, triggering a strike the utility has blamed for power blackouts.
Misconduct charges
Meanwhile, the South African Institute of Charted Accountants said on Tuesday it would charge former Eskom chief financial officer Anoj Singh with serious misconduct related to a R600 million loan to a Gupta company.
Singh was suspended as chief financial officer of the cash-strapped state firm last July before resigning in January as investigations into corruption at Eskom began.
Eskom came under scrutiny in 2017 after leaked documents put it at the centre of allegations of improper dealings in the granting of lucrative coal-supply contracts to companies linked to the Guptas and former president Jacob Zuma.
The Guptas and Zuma have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. But their relationship will be the focus of a government corruption inquiry due to start in August.
The accountants’ institute said Singh’s conduct was “dishonest and irregular” and that a number of financial decisions he made showed a conflict of interest and undue influence by external players.
It said Singh improperly authorised a R600 million pre-payment to Gupta-owned Tegeta Exploration and Resources to acquire Optimum Coal, which supplies the fossil-fuel to Eskom.
The utility generates the lion’s share of its power from coal.
Singh has 21 days to respond to the charges.
The body said it had full power to caution, reprimand and impose a maximum fine of R250 000 per charge.
Singh did not respond to telephone calls and texts from Reuters seeking comment.
– Additional reporting by Reuters
