Gordhan meets Eskom and unions, wipes 0% wage increase off table

After Eskom started load shedding yesterday, minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan convened a meeting with the Eskom board and management, and the three labour unions involved – the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and Solidarity.

According to a statement released by Gordhan’s office, his intention was to bring all parties to engage on the issues around the employee salary negotiations and disruption of electricity supply.

The parties agreed that the current disruptions at Eskom that resulted in load shedding are not beneficial to either party nor to the country and the economy.

The parties agreed on a process to do the following:

• To resume negotiations with immediate effect. It was agreed that the 0% offer from Eskom is off the table.
• To normalise operations immediately and restore production in order to ensure the security of electricity supply.
• To engage on other key issues that impact on the future sustainability of Eskom such as the cost of coal and the impact of policy including the Independent Power Producers programme.
• To begin a process to build a trustworthy relationship post the wage negotiations.

  “The minister wishes to thank all the parties for the constructive engagement and calls on all parties to play their part in ensuring that electricity supply is restored,” the statement concludes.

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