Union in bid to stop Eskom's unilateral increase

The Labour Court in Johannesburg is expected to rule on Monday on an urgent application brought against Eskom by the National Union of Mineworkers.

NUM is seeking an interdict preventing Eskom from unilaterally implementing a 7% multi-year wage increment, it said in a statement on Sunday.

The union is determined to ensure that Eskom agrees to a 13% wage increment, a R3 000 housing allowance and stops its conversion process of a pension fund to a provident fund.

Union spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said a memorandum setting out these demands had been handed to Eskom’s senior executive for human resources at a march on Saturday.

Eskom was given seven days to respond, but Seshoka said he hoped it would respond sooner. The union rejected Eskom’s proposals for compulsory arbitration.

Seshoka said Eskom itself had previously challenged the outcomes of an arbitration process, and the matter was still pending at the Supreme Court of Appeal.

On Friday, Eskom spokesperson Hilary Joffe said the utility would ask for compulsory arbitration and that Eskom intended implementing the 7% increase.