Eskom strikes: Unions have not rejected 7% wage offer yet – Numsa

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has told The Citizen it has not rejected Eskom’s wage offer of a 7% wage increase yet, despite reports which suggest otherwise.

Reports emerged on Thursday morning that Numsa and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has rejected the parastatal’s revised offer.

Numsa initially demanded 15% across the board at the start of the wage battle, but revised their demand downward to 12%.

ALSO READ: Pravin ‘provoking workers’ – Gordhan slammed for saying Eskom ‘wage agreement reached’

Num‘s wage demands currently range between 8% and 10% while Solidarity, which condemned the protests, made a demand of 5.9%.

In a tweet, Numsa said it noted the very reckless report claiming that workers at Eskom have rejected the wage offer.

“We demand that FIN24 delete this story Immediately, it is false. The journalist published without bothering to confirm with the union.”

“This kind of reckless reporting has the potential to jeopardize wage talks. We will be meeting with Eskom in the CBF to respond to the wage proposal,” Numsa said it another tweeet.

Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan’s on Tuesday announced workers would return to work after disruptions to Eskom operations, with bargaining expected to resume on Friday.

Gordhan prematurely said an agreement had been reached with unions to bring the illegal industrial action by Eskom employees to an end.

The unions say they noted the comments made by Gordhan and wanted to set the record straight.

“We have not come to any agreement with Eskom, an offer was tabled which members are engaging on.

“For the next few days, we will be consulting members to find out if they accept the proposal or not. We will meet on Friday 1 July at the Central Bargaining Forum where we will formally respond to it as parties.”

Meanwhile, the South African Youth Economic Council (SAYEC) says load shedding is a result of Eskom’s incompetence and that rolling blackouts intensified under CEO Andre de Ruyter’s leadership.

They are therefore calling for CEO Andre de Ruyter to be fired as soon as possible.

Megawatt Park continues to face backlash from citizens and civil society organisations due to the ongoing power cuts in the country.

ALSO READ: Fire Andre de Ruyter now!’ – Youth council say load shedding intensified under CEO’s watch