Power utility Eskom declared a dispute early on Friday with the three unions negotiating for increased wages.
The company and Solidarity, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) had hoped to conclude negotiations in the meeting that went past midnight on Thursday night.
Eskom increased its offer from 6% to 7% and proposed correcting the salaries of employees earning below market-related packages.
When the unions, who had reduced their demands from 12% to 9,75%, rejected the offer, Eskom reduced its offer to 6,25% and declared a dispute, said Solidarity’s Jaco Kleynhans.
”All the negotiations since yesterday morning [Thursday] are worth nothing,” he said.
Solidarity, which had reduced its demand to 9% from the 12% that all unions started on, would apply to refer the matter for arbitration through a third party.
Numsa was deciding how to proceed after the union’s national executive committee agreed last week that ”anything in the double digits” would be acceptable, according to its spokesperson, Mziwakhe Hlangani.
NUM negotiator Paris Mashego said CPIX (consumer inflation minus mortgage costs) was currently at 6,4% and Eskom’s 6,25% offer ”adds salt to an injury”.
”Our commitment to a negotiated settlement is unquestionable and having accommodated Eskom this far, we would now like to explore other avenues,” said Mashego. — Sapa