South Africa's Eskom Offers Workers Wage Increase After Protests

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s Eskom SOC Holdings Ltd. offered workers a wage increase to resolve a dispute after protests forced the utility to implement rolling blackouts.

Eskom offered a 4.7 percent increase and is proposing a four-year pay agreement with inflation guaranteed, Livhuwani Mammburu, a spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers, the biggest labor group at the utility, said on his Twitter feed.

The national power grid has been constrained for nearly a week and Eskom introduced rolling blackouts June 14 for the first time since 2015 after demonstrators blockaded roads and attacked staff. The wage negotiations broke down earlier this month after the company insisted it couldn’t offer a pay increase because it needs to improve its finances.

Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe didn’t immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Burkhardt in Johannesburg at pburkhardt@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Herron at jherron9@bloomberg.net, Liezel Hill, Alaric Nightingale

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