Eskom ‘collating information’ on staff involved in the wild cat strike

Last week Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer vowed that Eskom would deal decisively with staff that have disrupted operations at the country’s manually operated power stations.

The power utility announced on Sunday night that Stage four load shedding would continue into the week as staff who’ve embarked on a wild cat strike have wreaked havoc on the shaky-at-best national power grid.

When asked if Eskom had identified the employees holding it, and by extension the nation to ransom, it responded the process of collating information was ongoing.

“Eskom is in the process of collating information. DC processes will commence once the situation is under control. At this point in time our efforts and resources are directed at keeping the lights on,” it said in response to questions about how it was dealing with disruptive staff.

Wage negotiations between the parastatal and unions reached a deadlock last week.

“We reached a deadlock on 21 June 2022 and thereafter declared a dispute with the CCMA. This means that the bargaining process has ended and the process is with the CCMA. We are awaiting the CCMA to schedule a conciliation process,” said Eskom.

Last week, Eskom’s acting managing director of generation capacity, Rhulani Mathebula, said there were continuous manual systems being used, especially at older stations.

But the ongoing illegal strike action saw employees willing to work being intimidated at home and en route to work.

“Employees need to return to workstations to avert more load shedding,” Mathebula has said at the time.

Outraged social media users, who’ve been left powerless as stage four and additional unplanned power cuts continue at a local level, have called on Eskom to sack its disruptive employees, despite the parastatal’s wishes to retain its skilled workforce.

Normal operations usually require between 35 and 200 staff capacity on maintenance work. But at least 50 – 100 workers are currently not at their posts at various power stations due to the strike.

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