Calls for strike at Eskom

Johannesburg - Eskom workers may strike over the parastatal's disposal of its training colleges, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA said on Monday.

"We have lodged a dispute with the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for the right for Numsa's Eskom workers to go on a disruptive strike action," Mziwakhe Hlangani, Numsa national spokesperson said in a statement.

The action followed what Numsa called Eskom's "alleged racially-motivated" transfer of its black employees to an outsourced private company.

According to Numsa, the in-house Eskom training colleges - which employed about 400 workers - had been sold to a company in an auction.

The mostly black employees in the college "who were looking forward to be enlisted in Eskom's ambitious career development programme have been denied that opportunity and were forcefully transferred and assigned work tasks in the private company", the union said.

White employees, meanwhile who were employed in the same training colleges were "exclusively considered for further career advancement and offered positions in other Eskom departments".

The union said Eskom had refused to implement agreed career advancement policies since last year to ensure that college workers who did not approve of transfers to private companies were further skilled to take up job opportunities in other departments.

"We are gearing ourselves for adversarial and antagonistic engagement with Eskom management as we are mobilising protest campaigns in conjunction with Cosatu to vent our anger against outsourcing," Numsa's chief shop steward at Eskom Nathaniel Goete said.

The union said the CCMA's decision regarding strike action would be known within 14 days.

Eskom could not comment immediately.

- Sapa