The Labour Court has granted Eskom an interdict against the strike action by members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

This comes after NUM members downed tools at Eskom on Monday in response to a deadlock in wage negotiations. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has threatened to do the same is an agreement cannot be met.

The interdict effectively means that the strike action is illegal and unprotected. Section 71(8) of the Labour Relations Act states that employees working for essential service providers such as Eskom are not allowed to embark on any industrial action.

NUM said in a statement on Tuesday that all 15 000 of its members at Eskom will be striking in a fight for the restoration of the right to strike at Eskom.

“The right to strike is enshrined in the constitution of South Africa and Eskom has stolen that right to strike from our members. It is going to be a total withdrawal of labour by our members. NUM members will be striking for the right to strike at Eskom. Our members’ right to strike cannot be taken away by anybody including Eskom’s arrogant management,” NUM said in a statement.

Eskom reports that it and the three unions –NUM, Numsa, and Solidarity – are in discussions in an effort to find an amicable resolution on their wage demands.

All four parties have accepted an offer by the CCMA to assist in the wage dispute. The Director of the CCMA, Cameron Sello Morajane, confirmed that a senior commissioner has been appointed to facilitate the talks scheduled for 11 August. Morajane further confirmed that the CCMA will ensure that all options are explored in an effort to resolve the dispute.

The unions’ demands include a wage increase of between 8.5% and 10%, and Eskom is currently offering between 7% and 9%. Eskom is hopeful that all the affected parties will reach a resolution soon.

NUM has accused Eksom of still paying its workers based on the apartheid system where white
employees are paid more than black employees.

Numsa reported on Monday that it was mobilising all of its members in Eskom, now that talks have failed to reach any agreement on the unions’ demands.

“If no agreement can be reached Numsa members are ready, as a last resort, to join all Eskom workers in all unions in strike action in support of our just demands. Where the NUM is already on strike, Numsa members will join them,” the union said in a statement.

Eskom says that it has contingency plans in place to ensure that its operations are not impacted by the strike. However, the utility reported that there may be a slight delay in response times to electricity-related incidents in some areas due to the illegal industrial action.

 

Three senior officials suspended

In an unrelated matter, Eskom has placed the Koeberg power station manager and plant manager on precautionary suspension as a result of “the distribution of documentation containing unauthorised facts and assumptions relating to Koeberg’s Production Plan and in particular, the steam generator replacement.”

The power utility reports that the potential prejudice caused to it by the unauthorised actions of the suspended personnel is currently being assessed.

In another separate incident, a drone crashed on the Koeberg site in contravention of the nuclear safety regulations and was returned to its owner without the investigation having been completed. Eskom has subsequently suspended the Koeberg safety officer as a precautionary measure to fully investigate the incident. The matter has also been reported to the SAPS as Koeberg is a National Key Point.