Power utility Eskom has obtained a court interdict in a bid to prevent workers from embarking on a strike action.
The interdict granted by the labor court on Tuesday is to prevent employees affiliated to the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from going on strike following stalled salary negotiations.
Workers are demanding a wage increase of between 8.5% and 10%, while the employer is prepared to offer between 7% and 9%. Eskom has promised that the strike will not affect operations or power supply.
“We have contingency plans in place to ensure that our operations are not impacted. However, we wish to point out that there may be a slight delay in response times to electricity-related incidents in some areas due to the illegal industrial action,” said Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe.
Meanwhile, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has pledged its full support to NUM members and their strike action and accused Eskom of using the courts to negotiate with workers.
Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamela said, “This short-sightedness is the reason ,why Eskom has so far failed to transform the apartheid wage structure in the company. White employees continue to be paid more than black employees for no discernible reason.” Workers have vowed to continue with their strike action despite the court interdict which makes it illegal.
