Eskom abusing its essential service status - Solidarity
Trade union Solidarity has distanced itself from the ongoing industrial action at various Eskom power stations.
The power utility has blamed the stage 4 rolling blackouts on industrial action at various power stations, saying it has impacted planned maintenance and repairs.
The power cuts are expected to last until Wednesday.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the full staff complement has also not reported for duty at a number of power stations.
The utility is involved in protracted wage talks with unions, including the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa).
Eskom reported several incidents linked to the strike last week, including some workers blocking access to power stations and the intimidation of managers and other staff who reported for duty.
But Solidarity spokesperson Helgard Cronje says the union has made it clear to the utility during negotiations that it won’t take part in the protests.
"We respect the fact that Eskom is an essential service, and our members will follow the dispute route at the CCMA, Eskom has already referred a dispute, so we also communicated to our members to not participate in an industrial action."
“They (Eskom) however are abusing the fact that they are an essential service and know that employees can not legally go out on strike,” says Cronje.
ALSO READ
