D-Day for Eskom strike

Johannesburg - The question as to whether South Africa will be left powerless later this week turns on a crucial union meeting, which began at 14:00, in which unions will debate whether to accept Eskom's latest 10.5% wage increase offer.

The meeting is scheduled to end at 16:00, Paris Mashego, chief negotiator for the National Union of Mineworkers (Num) told Fin24.com on Tuesday.

Promisingly, union members were seriously considering the latest offer, but the issue of a housing allowance was a crucial factor, Mashego said. Num initially demanded a 14% wage increase.

"We are going to decide [whether the strike will go ahead] right now," said Mashego of industrial action the Freemarket Foundation said last week could cost the South African economy a staggering R7bn per day.

Leon Louw, the foundation's spokesperson, told Fin24.com last week: "The cost to the economy is immense."

Andrew Etzinger, spokesperson for Eskom, said the company had taken "the right approach in engaging the unions" in negotiation rather than adopting an aggressive stance involving court interdicts.

"We've come a lot closer together in the past week and Eskom has been very flexible, but the ball is now in their court," he said. "We're confident the process will yield a result that is acceptable to both parties."

President Jacob Zuma's first 100 days in office have been marred by strikes in the construction, chemical and mining sectors as the unions assert their interests to the government.

- Fin24.com