Photo by: d
State-owned power utility Eskom on Wednesday denied claims by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) that it planned to dismiss 331 employees across its operations as a result of changes to its business model.
The union claimed the parastatal planned to retrench 217 workers on fixed-term contracts and 114 on labour broker contracts, and that the employment contracts of 26 staff members at Eskom Park, in eMalahleni, had also been cancelled on September 30.
It further accused Eskom of attempting to bypass amendments to the Labour Relations Act.
“These amendments place significant restrictions on the use of temporal workers for a period of fewer than three months," NUM energy sector coordinator Paris Mashego said.
He added that the NUM was “devastated by the dismissals and the conduct of Eskom management, who are refusing to engage the union on this matter”.
Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe told Engineering News Online that the utility was unaware of these planned dismissals and that “perhaps the NUM is trying to create unnecessary panic”.