Eskom to pluck legal costs from union
JOBURG – The ecstatic Eskom is gearing up to recover its legal costs from following their legal victory over trade union Solidarity after a 17-year legal battle against the union.
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This came after the Constitutional Court dismissed an application for leave to appeal by the trade union in which it alleged that Eskom entered into an oral agreement with it 17 years ago to make a yearly once-off, non-pensionable payment equal to double the basic salaries of some of the senior employees at the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station.
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Eskom’s spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said the company’s legal team will now proceed to recover its legal costs from Solidarity.
Phasiwe said, “We are putting the numbers together and when we are ready, we will send the documents to their legal team.”
According to Eskom, the union has also alleged that the agreement included a system of early retirement for the employees in terms of which they would be credited with a condoned service of six months service for each year served as a licenced operator, or pro rata for part thereof in addition to the 12 months ordinarily credited. Eskom said the union claimed the verbal contract was entered into in 1998.
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In a statement by Eskom, it was stated that during these years, Eskom’s response has always been that no agreement had been entered into and that only proposals had been discussed between the parties. Following a protracted 17-year legal battle between the two parties, the Constitution Court ruled against Solidarity stating that the application should be dismissed as it bears no prospect of success.
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