Eskom reaches wage agreement with unions to end strike – Gordhan

Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan says an agreement has been reached with unions to bring the strike at Eskom to an end.

Gordhan said the illegal industrial action by Eskom employees was the major cause of stage 6 load shedding in the country, but this has now been resolved.

Gordhan was addressing the media on the current challenges facing Eskom as the dark lords of Megawatt Park ramped up load shedding two notches from stage 4 to stage 6 on Tuesday.

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The minister said he took the unusual step of addressing media to provide the country with reassurances about what stage 6 load shedding means.

Gordhan said the strike by Eskom employees had worsened the production of electricity.

“The illegal industrial action is the major cause of Stage 6. It has worsened the production of electricity. Stage 6 means 6 000MW cannot be provided by Eskom. Demand is about 32 000 MW. Eskom can only supply 6 000MW less than that.”

Gordhan says an agreement has been reached on the wage settlement with the unions.

He said the strike was causing damage to South Africa’s reputation and government’s plans to grow the economy and impact on business.  

“An agreement was reached that unions will request their members to return to work tomorrow.  We are hoping that all staff will return to work tomorrow.  Where there has been intimidation, the backlog of maintenance will be attended to.”

“I am hoping that all of us will work hard and collaborate so that we can avert stage 6 tomorrow. Tomorrow the CEO will keep you informed in terms of returning units to full functionality,” said Gordhan.

The minster added that government was doing everything possible to assist Eskom with its challenges.

Gordhan also said President Cyril Ramaphosa has been fully briefed on what happened with Eskom.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the National Union of Mineworkers (Num) and National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) say they met with Eskom executives, including Chief Executive Officer, Andre de Ruyter, to discuss the current deadlock in the wage negotiations between the parties.

In a statement, both unions confirmed the meeting on Tuesday morning registered considerable progress in that negotiations have been able to break new ground with a new offer which will be tabled at the Central Bargaining Forum (CBF) on Friday.

“In light of these developments, we call on workers at Eskom to normalise the situation given that Eskom has returned to the negotiating table. We are calling on our members to give this process and the CBF meeting on Friday the necessary chance to settle the current dispute.”

The unions say they will consult with workers on the new offer that is a product of negotiations between the two unions and Eskom over the past two days to unlock the current deadlock. 

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