Eskom has concluded a three-year wage deal that will take effect in July and increase staff salaries by 7% in each year of the agreement, it said on Friday.
Eskom said the agreement will apply to all employees in its wage-bargaining unit, even though one of its three major trade unions — the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa — so far has refused to sign.
The deal is binding because the other two major unions, the National Union of Mineworkers and Solidarity, represent more than 75% of the employees in the Central Bargaining Forum, Eskom said in a statement.
The annual salary increase is above the inflation rate of 3%, though inflation could soon reach 4% because of the impact of the Iran war.
Eskom began pay talks last year with the three unions, with several rounds of negotiations as it sought a deal.
Under Eskom’s last three-year agreement in 2023, non-managerial employees’ salaries similarly increased by 7% each year.
But the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa is holding out for an 8% increase in the first year of the agreement and has said its demand could end up in arbitration accompanied by demonstrations.
The former state monopoly still generates the bulk of South Africa’s electricity.
Its power cuts and financial losses that have required repeated government bailouts have for years weakened South Africa’s economy.
But a sharp turnaround in the performance of its coal-fired power station fleet has allowed it to stop implementing nationwide blackouts, and it reported its first full-year profit in eight years last financial year.
REUTERS
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