WAGE NEGOTIATIONS
CAROL PATON: Let’s hope Eskom CE learnt a few lessons on the power of unions
New CE Phakamani Hadebe and his board completely misjudged the situation at Eskom
Eskom’s capitulation on its 0% wage offer on Friday night was the swiftest collapse of a bargaining position you’ll ever see. In a matter of hours, the company, prompted by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, moved from a 0% wage increase to at least 5% by promising labour that "no-one will be left worse off than before". Negotiations, which start again on Tuesday, will now focus on whether this means the consumer price index or something more. It was a horrible lesson for new CE Phakamani Hadebe, who, together with his board, completely misjudged the situation. Hadebe, a finance man and banker, hasn’t had much to do with workers and trade unions before.From a financial sustainability point of view as well as a management one, Eskom’s wage bill is unaffordable. The past decade was one of escalating debt and profligacy. On average, the salaries of Eskom employees increased 140% and the number of employees grew by close to 50%. There is no question that something drastic must ...
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