By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Eskom says the South African state utility is unable to agree to certain union demands over wage increases and declined to make an offer on basic salary until labour groups respond.
The loss-making electricity provider “cannot afford” proposals such as an improvement in pay inequality, according to a letter dated 4 May.
A request by unions to raise worker housing allowance has “no justification” and the required funds aren’t available in any case, the company said.
Eskom has R464 billion in debt and is the most prominent of the government-owned companies burdening state finances, while regularly resorting to power cuts to keep the grid from overloading.
The utility bowed to pressure from labour in 2018 wage negotiations after strike action, agreeing to a one-time cash payment and annual increases of at least 7%.
The utility “is not at this stage in a position to table a possible offer in terms of a percentage increase to basic salary, as this is dependent on the union responses to the above,” it said.
An Eskom spokesman declined to comment further.
Eskom’s biggest two labour groups, The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the National Union of Mineworkers, are seeking wage increases of 15%. Solidarity, a smaller group, wants 9.5% increases for its members.
“They must give us an offer,” said Livhuwani Mammburu, a spokesman for NUM. The utility offered new proposals for wage increases and employment benefits but didn’t include a counteroffer on salary adjustments, according to Helgard Muller, a spokesman for Solidarity union.
“They have basically said their proposal in terms of the percentage salary increase will depend on the feedback from unions,” he said Tuesday. “They haven’t tabled a percentage increase, that will be tabled once the unions responds to those proposals.”
Meanwhile Eskom on Wednesday warned Gauteng residents of its network overloading due to rising demand in high-density areas.
The power utility appealed to the public to use electricity sparingly and refrain from illegal connections as this caused overloading of its network resulting in damage to cables, transformers and mini-substations.
Eskom said substantially high energy demand was being recorded during peak periods in the mornings between 5am and 9am and again later in the day between 5pm and 10pm.
“Due to the rising number of illegal electricity activities such as purchases made from ghost vendors, illegal connections and illegal operating, the electricity infrastructure is starting to fail. This puts a strain on the repair and replacement of failed assets,” Eskom’s Gauteng operating unit said in a statement
The electricity producer warned it would take measures to reduce demand on its network such as intensifying load reduction in order to protect its assets from repeated failures and explosions.
Eskom has been implementing load reduction in high-density areas in several provinces to reduce demand on the national grid.