Eskom’s hot mess – Stage four load shedding, illegal strikes, worker intimidation

It’s safe to say that South Africans have grown accustomed to Eskom’s seemingly never-ending woes, but this week has beens particularly hard for the power utility, as it battled to contain growing discontent from within its own ranks following a deadlock in wage negotiations.

Eskom’s Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer explained that stage four load shedding came courtesy of staff disruptions at a few of its older, manually operated power stations, as total unplanned outages reached north of 18 000 MW on Friday.

“Illegal strikes caused Eskom to run its alternative power supplies like the Open Cycle Gas Turbines longer than usual. Striking made stage four load shedding necessary,” explained a weary-looking Oberholzer during a Friday afternoon briefing.

“We experienced several forms of intimidation. Should illegal striking continue it would affect generation capacity. Put the people of South Africa first,” he urged.

Eskom’s acting managing director of generation capacity, Rhulani Mathebula, said there were continuous manual systems being used, especially at older stations. But the ongoing illegal strike action saw employees willing to work being intimidated at home and en route to work.

“Employees need to return to workstations to avert more load shedding,” said Mathebula.

Normal operations usually require between 35 and 200 staff capacity on maintenance work. But at least 50 – 100 workers are currently not at their posts at various power stations due to the strike.

Is Eskom going to fire the striking workers?

Eskom said an interdict had been granted on Friday morning.

Oberholzer didn’t give more details on the interdict, except to say that employees who are engaged in undesirable behaviour “will be dealt with”.

Mathebula reported that Eskom managers’ cars were pelted with stones as they arrived at work on Thursday and Friday.

There was also an incident inside one of the power stations, where non-striking workers were allegedly forced from their posts – but that situation was resolved by Eskom’s private security.

“Striking workers will be taken through a DC, and they will be fired if necessary,” warned Oberholzer.

Wage negotiations – Eskom denies Numsa’s claims of a walkout

CEO Andre de Ruyter, who wasn’t present at the briefing, met with trade union leadership on Thursday night.

It’s understood that union leadership doesn’t support the illegal strike action and subsequent intimidation tactics employed by some protesting staffers.

“There are measures, informally to bring this illegal activity to an end. Eskom will also pursue the CCMA process,” said Oberholzer.

The parastatals’ labour relations manager Thulane Ngele confirmed that a dispute with CCMA has been declared.

Ngele clarified claims that Eskom had walked out of wage negotiations.

“The demands are so far apart there is no middle ground, so a deadlock was declared. This is part of the process,” he explained.

“We need to balance our financial position with what is going on around the world. We balance a number of factors before affording increases, like the rising cost of living. We also want to retain our skills,” Ngele said.

Negle stressed that salaries needed to be in line with market value to retain skills.

Eskom wage increases for managers

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha clarified there have been no increases for managers in the past three years.

“The annual cash bailout from Treasury for Eskom doesn’t include manager salary increases and bonuses,” he said.

Meanwhile, Oberholzer has apologised to South Africans for load shedding and having to implement stage four, which is expected to continue throughout the weekend.

“We trust that some unions and naughty employees understand that their actions have an effect on people’s lives. We really don’t need this as a country.”

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