LONDON — When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Eskom will be unbundled in three separate parts: Generation, Transmission and Distribution; the unions were up in arms with Cosatu members taking to the street. They accused the ministers in control of Eskom and the Treasury of not consulting with the trade unions. Cosatu insisted that the splitting up of Eskom would not lead to job losses, the privatisation of energy services or any electricity hikes. Since then they have been involved in a verbal spat with Finance Minister Tito Mboweni with the gloves coming off this week when they called on him to retire. Although Cosatu makes no bones about the fact that they do not like Mboweni, they are openly backing the President, warning Ramaphosa’s enemies that they would oppose any attempt to remove him and they would even consider leaving the ANC-alliance if there is an attempt. And now it seems Cosatu has softened its stance towards the Eskom unbundling indicating that they are prepared to discuss cutting workers at Eskom. While Ramaphosa has the backing of one union, the government appears to be squaring up for a fight with another, the more militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) who is not aligned to the ANC. The Labour Department announced that AMCU who became prominent during the Marikana shootings could be deregistered for breaking rules governing the operation of trade unions, responded saying that they see it as a political attack and an effort by the Government to destroy the trade union, which has an estimated 250,000 members. – Linda van Tilburg
Cosatu wants facts before talks on Eskom job cuts
Until now, proposals to turn around the debt-ridden, loss-making utility have been met with fierce opposition from labour unions. In June, Eskom had to implement rolling blackouts when workers protested plans for zero pay increases and in February union members picketed at the company’s headquarters over potential job cuts.
“We are asking them to please table the evidence and research that indicates” that Eskom has too many workers, Bheki Ntshalintshali, general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Johannesburg office. “When that evidence is gathered and made public, I think that will be a different game to look at because you can’t argue against facts, you can’t argue against numbers.”
Neither Eskom nor the government has provided information on which specific jobs aren’t required, he said, adding Cosatu may be prepared to discuss how workers could be moved.
‘No plan’
Eskom is seen by credit-rating companies as one of the biggest risks to Africa’s most-industrialised economy. It’s struggling to meet demand for power from ageing plants and to boost revenue after years of financial mismanagement. The company was at the centre of alleged looting under the previous administration.
The World Bank estimates that the power utility has 66% too many employees, while Eskom has said of its 48,600 employees it has 16,000 more workers than it needs.
“How did it happen that they just employed more and more people?” Ntshalintshali said. “Clearly, there was no plan. You can’t employ people today and tomorrow you say you are overstaffed.”
While President Cyril Ramaphosa has replaced the utility’s board, Cosatu wants the government to take a hard line on prosecuting those responsible for looting at state-owned companies, including Eskom. Without setting an example by going after the alleged perpetrators and installing the right management, steps such as job cuts won’t get Eskom back to financial health, the federation said.
Ramaphosa announced in February that Eskom will be split into three units and, while he insists that the utility will not be privatised, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said in the budget the government will invite private businesses to invest in the transmission unit.
“We are jittery because, as much as the president says there is not going to be any retrenchments or job losses, if you listen to Treasury and the public enterprises minister, these are proponents for privatisation,” Cosatu First Deputy-President Michael Shingange said.
Cosatu opposes any privatisation of the network because it could make electricity too expensive for the majority of poor South Africans.
“How are we going to stop them from hiking the price?” Shingange said. “It’s not only about job losses for us, it’s about the fact that electricity is already extremely unaffordable to our people. Imagine when it is in the hands of private individuals.”
