Johannesburg | Tuesday
THOUSANDS of employees working for South African power company Eskom will down tools on Tuesday when three unions embark on a national strike following a wage dispute with the electricity supplier.
Over 20 000 members of the MWU-Solidarity, the National Union of Mineworkers and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) would participate in the mass action, the unions said on Monday.
The first day of the strike would see demonstrations and pickets at various plants while on Wednesday protesters would march to Eskom headquarters in Braamfontein in central Johannesburg.
The unions want an 11% increase for the lowest-paid workers and nine percent for the highest-paid. Eskom offered nine percent for the highest-paid and seven percent for the lowest-paid staff.
The unions and Eskom failed to resolve the wage dispute at the governmental strike-breaking body, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration on Friday.
On Monday evening an urgent court application, brought by Eskom to stop certain workers from participating in the strike, was postponed in the Labour Court in Johannesburg.
Eskom brought the application to prevent workers, who fell under the provisions of the minimum services agreement from striking.
Under the agreement, a minimum amount of workers will continue working to ensure there were no disruption in the flow of electricity.
About 1 000 Eskom employees fall under the agreement and include electricians at power stations and control room operators.
An Eskom representative told free-to-air television channel e-tv that the company had made contingency plans for the strike.
“We have people whose responsibility is to ensure that electricity goes normally so that lives of South Africans are not affected and that the economy is not affected,” Clarence Kwinana told the station. – AFP
ZA*BUSINESS:
Massive strike showdown next week July 20, 2001