COSATU fully supports the NUM’s decision to go on strike at Eskom
10 August 2016
The Congress of South African Trade Unions supports the decision by the National Union of Mineworker’s (NUM) members at Eskom, to embark on a full-blown strike demanding decent wage increases. The federation condemns the intransigent attitude of the Eskom management that has decided to use the country’s courts to negotiate with its employees.
This shortsightedness is the reason ,why Eskom has so far failed to transform the apartheid wage structure in the company. White employees continue to be paid more than and black employees for nor discernible reason. The worker’s demands of a salary adjustment of 8,5% to 10% on a sliding scale ,and a R3000 housing allowance are reasonable and fair.
Eskom’s finances have stabilized and workers have played their role in turning around the parastatal. The problem with Eskom management is that they do not view the payment of salaries as an investment but as expenditure. When they managed to stabilize electricity supply and stop load shedding, they were congratulating themselves and were saying nothing about the workers.
These workers deserve to be taken seriously and be remunerated accordingly for working hard to stabilize Eskom and also for keeping the wheels of the South African economy turning. Eskom workers are also consumers and they have suffered from Eskom’s exorbitant electricity price hikes that have impacted negatively on the cost of living for all.
Since the introduction of the multi-year-pricing system for Eskom, it has been easy for Eskom to keep getting price increases even before the end of the multi-year-price determination period. This has hit hard on all the consumers including the Eskom employees, who have seen everything going up.
It is therefore foolhardy and unreasonable to expect these workers to bend over backwards to keep the lights of on for the country , when they cannot afford the same electricity themselves, because of poor wages. Eskom managers should invest in their hardworking workforce by acceding to their reasonable demands and should stop their exploitative tendencies.
It is also troubling to see that government has so far failed to intervene. This is the same government that has been touring European Capitals promising investors that we will have steady supply of electricity as a way of kick-starting the economy. The steady supply of electricity is dependent on an efficient and functioning Eskom and that is not possible, if workers are demotivated and underpaid.
We are calling on all our communities and our affiliates to support NUM in their strike action and practice the principle of solidarity. An injury to one is an injury to all.
Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 10 August 2016
