The second round of wage talks between National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and power utility company Eskom is continuing accusations by the union that the company is paying huge bonuses to its bosses while offering peanuts to workers.
Numsa has accused Eskom of offering a “miserable” 7% wage increase across the board to the company’s 29 000 workers in the first round of wage talks.
“The 7% wage offer comes in the face of huge performance bonuses paid to the directors and managers.”
The union federation said Eskom has raised the bonus scheme of its top directors and managers to between R100 000 at the lower end of the scale and R5-million at the top end for the Chief Executive Officer.
Numsa said the total bonus paid to workers was a “meagre” R131-million to be shared equally among the 29 000 employees.
As a result of huge differentiated pay bonus incentives the union is currently demanding a wage increase of 20% across the board for all workers to close the wage gap.
The union is also demanding full disclosure of information on the allocated budget in order to engage meaningfully in the negotiations.
Numsa claimed Eskom was refusing to disclose information on the pay policy and budget.
“Failure to disclose information makes a mockery of the bargaining arrangements at the company. Numsa wants to negotiate a guaranteed wage increase for all members in order to offset all the risks associated with linking production bonus to wages.
“It is ludicrous for top managers to reward themselves by doubling salaries as a measure to get rich quickly. The bonus performances for top managers are an obscenity and disgusting.”
Numsa added that the increases for management amounted to greed and were an
attempt to create an affluent class of its own at the company.
“The company has failed to understand that labour creates value and determines the ultimate production. It is labour which suffers more and comes under pressure as a result high costs of living standards.”
The union said the pressure was felt by Eskom workers and was growing due to rising inflation and interest rates.
“In the same vein, it is the lowest paid workers who are vulnerable to socio-economic costs. These are workers who spend most of their salaries on food, transport and electricity, not on luxury items.”
Attempts by I-Net Bridge to get a response from Eskom proved fruitless. – I-Net Bridge