The biggest labour union at South Africa\u2019s Eskom demanded a 15% wage increase, as the cash-strapped utility struggles to generate adequate electricity to meet the country\u2019s needs, resulting in daily blackouts.<\/p>\n
The National Union of Mineworkers wants the same raise for all workers, along with other increases in allowances for housing and other benefits, it said in a copy of a letter to Eskom seen by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n
Wage negotiations at the utility come at a contentious time for Eskom and South Africa. Measures implemented by President Cyril Ramaphosa to end power shortages have included expanding a program to buy renewable energy and creating the post of electricity minister. Those steps haven\u2019t halted outages that have deepened in recent days.<\/p>\n
The first round of this year\u2019s wage negotiations will run from April 19-21 in Johannesburg, according to NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu. Eskom didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Solidarity, another labour union at the utility, has also submitted its demand for a pay increase of 3 percentage points above the average inflation rate. Price-growth averaged 6.9% last year and the central bank projects that will slow to 6% for 2023.<\/p>\n
Labour unions agreed to a wage deal with Eskom last year after violent protests that intimidated some workers from reporting for duty and exacerbated an electricity shortage that contributed to record outages.<\/p>\n
Eskom employees aren\u2019t allowed to strike legally, because the provision of power is considered an essential service.<\/p>\n