Business Day reports that organised labour representatives at Eskom have warned that they are unconvinced the power utility’s bid to cut costs through voluntary severance packages will save money or avoid further losses of skilled personnel, and continue to cite a lack of consultation in the embattled parastatal’s plans to shed staff. Eskom announced in November it would offer voluntary severance packages to its 47,000 employees as it seeks to combat falling revenue, funding shortfalls and credit rating downgrades. The application process for severance concludes next month. There have been reports that the utility has received far more applications than expected and, after the loss of skilled personnel, has tightened up the procedure. Eskom said on Friday the process remained under way, but declined to elaborate. The National Union of Mineworkers’ (NUM’s) Ndlela Radebe said on Friday the union remained in the dark about the criteria being used during the severance process and that unions have not been given an opportunity to engage, even though we believe there are other options and areas where Eskom is wasting money. Stephen Nhlapo of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) also said on Friday the union had not been afforded the opportunity to raise its concerns. Solidarity, which represents mainly skilled personnel, has questioned the effect of the process on morale and has called for its reversal.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 11:33:25 +0000
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