Citizens pay the price for Eskom power struggle
Wage talks have resumed, but the parties are still miles apart on fundamental issues regarding the power utility’s future — and it is ordinary South Africans who are paying the price
Struggling power utility Eskom faces a tough road, despite the resumption of wage negotiations with organised labour. The brutal fight put up by workers against the state-owned company’s refusal to increase wages could be the start of an even longer battle by unions over the general management of Eskom. There has been load-shedding since last Thursday as a result of the labour unrest that followed the collapse of wage talks. The company said it could not guarantee electricity supply this week either, as some power stations would take longer to become fully operational. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) demanded 15% wage hikes for their members, while Solidarity wanted 9%. As part of the package, the unions also want a say on the future sustainability of Eskom, including coal costs, the impact of the independent power producer (IPP) programme and staffing issues. It was agreed during the meeting that broke the wage talks dead...
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