Numsa slams Eskom ‘unprofessionalism’ at wage talks
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), the National Union of Mineworkers and Solidarity met with Eskom management on Wednesday for the first round of wage negotiations.
Numsa and NUM are demanding a 15% wage increase, while Solidarity has asked for an increase of CPI plus 3%.
But Numsa says negotiations got off to a slow start due to a three-hour delay for the utility’s management to draw up its submissions.
Numsa spokesperson Phakamile-Hlubi Majola says the electricity board failed to respond to the demands presented by the union citing that they should not be ventilated in the Central Bargaining Forum.
“They simply tried to defer them to other forums for discussion. They are not negotiating in good faith because these are the same issues that have definitely been raised in the CBF before and a collective agreement was reached on them.
“This is another delay tactic to drag these negotiations out unnecessarily when the whole nation is engulfed in the perpetual crisis of load shedding. The only demand which Eskom responded to was to inform us that they want a one-year agreement, and they are only offering a 3,75% increase.”
The first round of wage talks is expected to conclude on Friday.
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