Johannesburg - The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has confirmed that Eskom collapsed its wage negotiations and declared a dispute with the CCMA.
The union says it will now for the CCMA date for conciliation.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, NUM Acting General-Secretary William Mabapa said they were optimistic that the CCMA process will be able to resolve this dispute.
The comes as NUM has conditionally reviewed its demands to 10% – with a condition that the power utility makes a proper offer.
“Now that Eskom has failed to make an offer, the Union will revert to its original demands of 15% “closing the Apartheid Wage Gap, conditions of services and organisational rights”.
“The NUM is extremely angered and disturbed after Eskom GCE Andre de Ruyter released a misleading statement yesterday to all Eskom employees misleading and lying to them of the proceedings at the Central Bargaining Forum (CBF). This is the same person who refused to address the CBF but dares to deliberately misrepresent and lie about the proceedings of the CBF.
“We condemn the misinformation by Eskom to our members yesterday. Eskom failed to negotiate with and wants to negotiate directly with our members. They are refusing to bargain, because we are still in the beginning of the third round of negotiations as per our recognition agreement,” Mabapa said.
The union’s statement cited Eskom’s disciplinary code that classified misinforming as serious misconduct.
Mabapa highlighted that de Ruyter not only misinformed their members but also disrespected and contravened the recognition agreement.
NUM has now called on the shareholder or the chairman of the Eskom board to institute disciplinary measures.
Political Bureau