Protests at some South African power stations amid deadlocked wage talks are stopping coal from getting to plants and threatening electricity supply, the country\u2019s state-owned utility said.<\/p>\n
The standoff with workers comes as loss-making Eskom struggles to address issues from insipid demand to unsustainable debt.<\/p>\n
Strike action that began at the national power producer\u2019s stations on Monday could result in a repeat of the outages that followed wage protests in June.<\/p>\n
“Coal trucking at Majuba and Duvha power stations have stopped due to acts of intimidation,” Khulu Phasiwe, a spokesman for Eskom, said on Twitter.<\/p>\n
“This poses a threat to security of power supply.”<\/p>\n
Eskom offered to raise wages by as much as 7.5% annually – backtracking on its initial position that it couldn\u2019t afford a pay increase – after the power grid was constrained when protesters blockaded roads and attacked staff following the breakdown of wage negotiations last month.<\/p>\n
Still, the utility has stood firm on its refusal to pay bonuses, after reporting an annual loss of R2.3 billion ($174 million) last week. That stance amounts to an ‘act of war’, according to the National Union of Mineworkers, which represents the most workers of any group at Eskom.<\/p>\n
The NUM didn\u2019t immediately respond to a message seeking comment, while a spokeswoman for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa declined to comment. Legally, workers aren\u2019t permitted to strike because the power producer is deemed to provide an essential service.<\/p>\n
Eskom said last week that no bonus provision was raised as the utility missed its net profit target of 500 million rand. The utility also said financial constraints require a reduction in employee benefit costs to keep the business sustainable.<\/p>\n
The Solidarity union isn\u2019t participating in the strike, but the action is preventing its members from entering the stations, said deputy general secretary Deon Reyneke.<\/p>\n