NUMSA CALLS ON ESKOM AND ITS SUB-CONTRACTORS TO STOP THREATENING MEDUPI WORKERS VIA SMS'ES

27 March 2015

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), the majority union at Medupi Power Station, has reliably been informed by its members that threatening SMS'es of disciplinary actions are being circulated to workers by Eskom's sub-contracted companies, at Medupi Power Station, in Lephalale, Limpopo province.

The circulated SMS reads as follows:

"Dear employee with effect from 27 March 2015, you are not required to report for duty. The company will proceed and implement disciplinary processes forthwith and you will be notified accordingly".

We reject this reckless and provocative stance taken by Eskom's sub-contracted companies to threaten workers with disciplinary actions via SMS'es. This stance is going to harden attitudes and lead to total shut-down of the Power Station, in the midst of the massive black-outs or load-shedding experienced by the country. These massive back-outs have adversely affected our ailing economy, resulting in a number of workers losing jobs, and plagued thousands of families into the fringes of poverty and starvation.

We call on Eskom and its sub-contractors to suppress their egos and work towards responding to the genuine grievances of workers. Furthermore, we call for the immediate uplifting of the lock-out, that has led to workers not be able to access or enter the workplace.

Any failure by Eskom and its sub-contractors to concede to our demands will leave us little choice but to flex our organisational muscle and collective power, both at Medupi and Kusile power stations.

Statement issued by Castro Ngobese, NUMSA national spokesperson, March 29 2015

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