The Labour Court in Johannesburg turned down an urgent application by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Monday to stop Eskom from implementing a 7% unilateral wage increase.
The court ruled that the application did not satisfy the requirements of an interdict. The application was dismissed with costs.
NUM was expected to apply for leave to appeal.
“We are very disappointed … this has never happened in Eskom. It might set a precedent,” NUM energy sector coordinator Job Matsepe said.
“We are open for negotiations … but it seems unions have no place in Eskom.”
Wage talks with NUM, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and Solidarity recently deadlocked.
NUM was determined to ensure that Eskom agreed to a 13% wage increment, a R3 000 housing allowance and stopped its conversion process of a pension fund to a provident fund.
Union spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said on Sunday 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. — Sapa