NUM weighs Eskom offer to avert strike

The National Union of Mineworkers said on Saturday it was considering a wage offer from Eskom after marathon talks the previous day to try to avert a strike that could hit mining production.

“We have an offer of 10,5% that we are seriously considering and we believe that it has all the potential to avert a strike,” National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) chief negotiator Paris Mashego told Reuters.

“However, the deal breaker was the housing allowance. We have not achieved a housing allowance, what we have achieved is a process of reviewing the entire housing policy of Eskom.

We are going to our members [with the offer],” Mashego said.

Unions would announce on Wednesday whether or not they were pressing on with the strike, he added.

The threat of power cuts linked to a possible strike next week helped drive up prices of platinum and palladium this week and weakened the rand sharply amid investor worries about further pressure on a economy mired in recession.

The NUM, representing about half of the employees at Eskom, as well as smaller unions Solidarity and the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) want a 14% wage hike—about double the inflation rate—and more housing allowance.

They have rejected the power utility’s latest offer of an 8% increase, as well as a 9,5% raise proposed by mediators, but say they could settle for a double-digit pay increase plus the promise of a housing allowance for next year.

Eskom generates 95% of South Africa’s electricity and 45% of Africa’s power output.

The three unions involved in talks with the utility say they have agreed to hold joint mass action this coming week, including a march on Eskom’s headquarters on Thursday, if the wage and housing dispute is not resolved.

Eskom spokesperson Andrew Etzinger said on Friday he was confident a deal could be reached to avoid a strike, but that the firm had contingency plans to deal with any work stoppage.

Blackouts early last year temporarily crippled mine output, metal smelters and manufacturing, denting economic growth. - Reuters