NUMSA strike begins at Medupi

Only 7 000 Medupi workers clocked in for work on Tuesday with some 600 leaving the premises soon after to join National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) members outside Gate 2 as part of the nationwide strike in the metal industry.
Numsa sector coordinator, Stephen Nhlapo, told Northern News on Tuesday that the strike will affect the Medupi project as its members in structural engineering companies like Murray & Roberts will partake in protest action. Construction work is expected to be brought to a halt.
The union has rejected employers’ offer of between 7 and 8 %.
Ed Jardim, group communications executive for Murray & Roberts, confirmed that about 1 000 scheduled employees did not report to work on Tuesday. “We have about 900 employees on site today. All sites are peaceful at this point in time.”
Numsa, which represents close to
10 000 of Eskom’s workers, warned that it was considering risking an unprotected strike. According to Section 66 of the Labour Relations Act and Essential Services Committee, Eskom is classified as a provider of an essential service, meaning its workers cannot strike.
Numsa was demanding a 12% wage increase across the board, but later adjusted their demands to 10%. Eskom is offering 5.6%.
Eskom's acting HR group executive, Mongezi Ntsokolo, says: “The offer is informed by the challenges facing Eskom, including the need for financial sustainability and meeting the organisation’s mandate of ensuring a stable and reliable power supply system.”
Natasha Michael MP, DA Shadow Minister of public Enterprises called on the department of public enterprises to “take all steps within the ambit of the law to prevent the pending strike at Eskom.
"We accordingly urge Public Enterprise Minister, Lynne Brown, to obtain a court interdict, to halt Numsa strike action at Eskom in particular.”