More that 15,000 Eskom employees, all of them members of the National Union of Mineworkers, are expected to embark on a full blown strike in all nine provinces on Wednesday.This, after protracted wage negotiations broke down over the weekend at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.
The union said in a statement the decision to strike was taken at an urgent NUM - Eskom national shop steward council meeting on Tuesday.It said the right to strike was enshrined in the constitution of South Africa and Eskom had stolen that right to strike from union members.
NUM said members would be striking for their right to strike at the power utility.It said members were sick and tired of being threatened and reminded that Eskom was an essential service.NUM is demanding a 10% increase for the lowest paid employees and 8.5% for the highest paid employees at Eskom plus a R3,000 housing allowance.
Eskom has offered workers a 7% increase.
Meanwhile, the power utility suspended two senior managers at the Koeberg Power Station.Eskom says in a statement it has placed the Koeberg Power Station Manager and the 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 parastatal says the potential prejudice caused to Eskom by the unauthorised actions of the suspended personnel, is currently being assessed.No further details were made available.
