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Eskom$$s wage talks head for fourth round amid deadlock

Eskom wage negotiations are heading for the fourth round in June after talks deadlocked as three workers' unions

rejected the employers$$ revised final offer of $5\mathrm{.}25\%$ increases.

These protracted negotiations, which began mid$-$April, could raise the stakes and increase the possibility of heavily

intensified load$-$shedding if workers down tools since parties remain far apart. This comes as the power utility and its

three recognised trade unions $-$ National Union of Mineworkers $($NUM$),$ National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa

$($Numsa$)$ and Solidarity $-$ concluded the third round of salary negotiations last week. Eskom on Friday said the

negotiations have progressed relatively well with some significant movements made since the beginning of the wage

talks last month.

In the first two rounds, Eskom responded with a $3\mathrm{.}75\%$ offer, which was later increased to $4\mathrm{.}5\%,$ against the NUM and

Numsa$$s demands of a $15\%$ salary increment, while Solidarity demanded $10\mathrm{.}1\%.$ The latest round of negotiations, which

began on May $23,$ saw the NUM and Numsa revising their demands to $11\%$ and $12\%$ respectively, and Solidarity revised

its demand to $9\mathrm{.}5\%.$ As a result, Eskom revised its offer and made a final offer of $5\mathrm{.}25\%$ on Wednesday, but this was

rejected by all trade unions.

Numsa criticised the R$254$ billion Eskom debt relief provided by the National Treasury, saying the funding comes with

conditions that these monies could not be used to improve wages and benefits of workers at Eskom. Numsa

spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi$-$Majola said the Treasury must explain the rationale for denying workers increases when it

continuously approves the bloated primary energy contracts. The union has been arguing that the cost of primary energy

accounts for $70\%$ of Eskom$$s operational costs compared to $8\%$ cost of workers$$ wages, which means Eskom can afford

workers' wage demands.

Hlubi$-$Majola said they rejected Eskom$$s wage offer because they felt that Eskom could do better as workers were

struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living. $$The government is planning to allocate R$254$ billion in debt relief to

Eskom and not less than R$70$bn of this will go toward covering diesel costs over the next two years,$$ she said.

$$It is workers at Eskom who are working tirelessly to keep the grid from collapsing, and keep the lights on$,$ therefore the

Treasury must allocate money to meet the wage demands which workers are making.

$$What the National Treasury should do is to make sure that it allocates enough money so workers can at least have a

decent wage increase. At the same time, it must implement the Cabinet directive which was given in $2019$ which called

for the primary energy contracts to be renegotiated or set aside.$$ Eskom on Friday ramped up load shedding to Stage $5$

as breakdowns are currently at $17392$MW of generating capacity while $2940$MW was out of service for planned

maintenance.

The power utility has already warned that, due to rising demand, the possibility was high that it would implement an

unprecedented Stage $8$ load shedding this winter if breakdowns reach $18000$MW together with planned maintenance of

up to $4000$MW$.$

According to recent estimates, load$-$shedding stages between $3$ and $6$ will cost the economy approximately R$204$ million

and R$899$m per day. The NUM said it was disappointed with the attitude of Eskom's wage negotiating team, saying they

were negotiating in bad faith. NUM Eskom chief negotiator Olehile Kgware said the attitude of the Eskom negotiating

team was an insult to the toiling Eskom workers who are trying to prevent higher stages of load shedding.

$$Eskom is willing to pay billions of rands to the Independent Power Producers $($IPPs$)$ and the diesel sellers while failing to

increase the wages for the workers,$$ Kgware said. The NUM has requested Eskom to make available the amount of

money they are paying contractors and consultants and Eskom refused to provide that information. QUESTION $2(20$ Marks$)$

The article suggests that the protracted negotiations, which began mid$-$April, could raise the stakes and increase the

possibility of heavily intensified load$-$shedding if workers down tools since parties remain far apart. Using applicable

legislation, analyse the different forms of industrial action which parties in the article could take and highlight the

implications thereof