South Africa’s state-owned utility Eskom has finally managed to cut a wage deal with workers’ unions, a move which may soon help resolve the dire power situation in the country.
Eskom has signed the deal with three of its recognised labour unions. The workers were on strike demanding better wages. This led to South Africa struggling with a power crisis due to malfunctioning power plants abandoned by workers. The deal calls for a seven percent increase in salaries for workers.
The company said power supply in the country would still take some time to recover and requested workers to return to work to begin the process. “As a result of the strike, maintenance work has had to be postponed, and this backlog will take time to clear,” it said in a statement.
Saddled by an ageing coal fleet that is highly prone to faults, South Africa has faced intermittent power outages for more than ten years resulting in hindered economic growth.
According to Al Jazeera, the so-called “Stage 6” outages imposed by Eskom since last week have meant at least six hours without power every day for most South Africans. The last time they were as bad was in December 2019.
COVID-19 pandemic and inflation, which is at its highest in five years, have hindered small businesses, most of which are bearing the brunt of the latest power cuts.
“These disputes always get resolved in the end,” energy analyst Chris Yelland told broadcaster eNCA. “The question is how much damage is done in the course of reaching this end.”
