Eskom, unions hold new talks to end blackouts

South Africa’s state-run electricity producer and its labor unions have agreed to hold new negotiations over pay, the government said, ending protests at power plants that have caused disruptions to power supply.

Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan called a meeting Friday with Eskom SOC Holdings Ltd, the National Union of Mineworkers, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the Solidarity union “to normalise relationships and normalise operations” at the utility, he said in a statement. It was agreed at the talks that Eskom’s proposed 0% wage increase is “off the table,” Gordhan said.

Eskom, which generates almost all of the nation’s electricity, has been locked in a dispute with workers after wage talks broke down last week over the state-owned utility’s insistence that it can’t afford pay increases. The company began cutting power to some areas Thursday night for the first time since 2015, as demonstrators blockaded roads and attacked staff.

The power system will be “severely constrained” between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. Saturday, Eskom said through its Twitter account. Consumers should reduce electricity use to minimise the risk of load-shedding it said, using a local term for rolling blackouts. Earlier, the utility said the system was in a better position, but that cold weather was expected to add pressure on supplies.

The protests by employees came at a tough time for Eskom and the South African economy more broadly. While demand for electricity increases over the Southern Hemisphere winter, Eskom has also battled coal shortages, allegations of corruption and mismanagement, and struggled to raise the funding it needed earlier this year. A prolonged repeat of outages from three years ago would undermine signs of recovery in Africa’s most-industrialized economy.

The utility got a court order declaring the protests unlawful and prohibiting the intimidation of other workers and contractors. Employees were also barred from hijacking coal trucks and sabotaging Eskom’s electricity infrastructure. Eskom said on its website Saturday morning that it was not currently load shedding, using the local term for rolling blackouts.

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Source: moneyweb.co.za