The pay negotiations are expected to begin on Wednesday as Solidarity wants an increase linked to inflation plus 3%, while the National Union of Mineworkers wants a 15% raise.
The salary discussions came amid another round of debilitating planned power outages, with stages 5 and 6 in effect until further notice.
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According to Solidarity’s Helgard Cornje, the unions feel that employees should be given raises because the cost of living is growing for all South Africans.
“Eskom is also losing a lot of specialised skills and if they don’t pay an increase, we believe that they will keep losing specialised skills.
“Solidarity demanded a salary increase equal to a 12-month average of the CPI plus three per cent, this is a basic principle that we apply in most negotiations, and we usually connect our demands to a CPI figure.
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“We also demanded a five per cent increase for housing allowance and an increase equal to the salary increase for allowances that are not connected to the basic salary of employees.”
The first round of pay negotiations is slated to end on or before Friday.
