South Africa's Eskom Makes Fresh Wage Offer of 7%, Union Says

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. raised its wage-increase offer to 7 percent for 2018, the National Union of Mineworkers said.

The power utility offered an increase of 6 percent for the second and third years, NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said in a text message Friday.

Earlier, Eskom had offered to increase pay in the first year of a three-year deal by 6.7 percent after a previous proposal of 6.2 percent was rejected.

South Africa’s power grid was constrained after protesters blockaded roads and attacked staff after wage negotiations broke down last month because the utility said it couldn’t offer any pay increase due to poor finances. That forced Eskom to introduce rolling blackouts for the first time since 2015.

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