NUM rejects new wage offer from Eskom

Johannesburg - The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) rejected an improved wage offer from power utility Eskom on Tuesday as it still fell short of its demands, but the utility said the pay talks would continue.

Eskom, which provides virtually all of the electricity in Africa's most industrialised country, faced a crippling cash crunch last year that prompted an R80bn ($5bn) injection by the government.

The state-owned firm has said that it is willing to increase wages but cannot afford what the union was demanding.

A union official said Eskom had raised its offer to 5.75% from a previous offer of a 5% raise, but this was way below the NUM's demands.

The union wants a 15% wage increase for its lowest paid members and a 13% raise for its highest paid staff.

"We have rejected the offer and we will now get a new mandate from the workers so that we can continue to engage," Helen Diatile, the union's chief negotiator told Reuters.

The utility employs over 42 000 people with NUM representing more than 14 000 of workers.

Eskom's spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said the utility faced a precarious financial position, adding that the firm was paying loans that have kept its operations running.