KEY POINTS
- Eskom’s main labour unions have rejected a 3.5 percent wage offer and are demanding increases of up to 15 percent, along with additional benefits.
- Unions argue recent financial improvements and stability at the utility justify higher pay, while Eskom insists it must protect long-term affordability.
- Average employee costs have surged over the decades, yet detailed wage breakdowns remain undisclosed, leaving disparities between bargaining-unit staff and management largely opaque.
Eskom annual wage negotiations have taken a sharp turn, with labour unions representing the bulk of the utility’s workforce dismissing a proposed 3.5 percent salary increase and instead pushing for hikes of up to 15 percent.
Talks, which began in early November, have quickly hardened into a stand-off, setting up what may become one of the most contentious pay rounds the power company has faced in years.
The National Union of Mineworkers, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and Solidarity sit across from Eskom at the bargaining table, collectively representing roughly two-thirds of the company’s staff.
Managers and executives fall outside this process. NUM and Numsa are seeking a straight 15 percent increase, while Solidarity wants not less than 10 percent or CPI plus four percentage points. With inflation sitting at around 3.6 percent, that pushes Solidarity’s opening line close to 8.6 percent.
Union demands extend beyond headline salary figures. NUM has placed a R7,000 housing allowance on the table and wants Eskom to shoulder 80 percent of employees’ medical aid contributions.
Eskom’s counteroffer of 3.5 percent a year for the next three financial years, broadly pegged to inflation, was dismissed outright. NUM’s chief negotiator described it as a mockery, and Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola told SABC News the offer failed to recognise the effort workers put into stabilising a system that once seemed beyond repair.
Unions Argue Eskom’s Recovery Must Reflect in Pay
Hlubi-Majola cited Eskom’s recently announced R16 billion profit, more than 500 days without load-shedding and an improved energy availability factor as evidence that employees have delivered. But while the EAF has improved, it remains far from the 90 percent figure she mentioned.
Up to the 47th week of 2025, the average stood at 61.82 percent, its best performance since 2019. Weekly calculations have breached 70 percent only a handful of times this year.
Still, unions insist the 3.5 percent proposal is out of step with the broader regulatory environment. They note that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa provided for salary increases of at least 7 percent in Eskom’s tariff determinations.
Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said the utility would remain transparent throughout the process and stressed that unions must justify their demands. She added that long-term affordability had to be kept in view to safeguard both staff and the utility.
For years, employees in the bargaining unit have seen salary increases that outstrip inflation. Over the past eight years, wage adjustments have climbed by roughly 64 percent, compared with a compounded CPI of 44 percent. Eskom’s average cost per employee has risen dramatically too. In 1990, the figure stood at R38,000; by 2025 it had surged to more than R1 million, an increase of around 2,600 percent.
The most recent financial year reflected a 12.7 percent rise in employee costs, driven largely by a 7 percent pay increase and the reintroduction of short-term incentives.
There has also been misunderstanding about what a 15 percent demand would mean in rand terms. Some reports suggested it would equate to an additional R12,900 per month per employee, based on the overall average cost. But union-negotiated salaries apply only to bargaining unit members, not to managers and executives whose remuneration sits considerably higher and pushes up the average.
Eskom does not publish detailed salary bands by employee level, citing industry norms. However, leaked figures from 2018, published by Moneyweb, offered a rare glimpse. At that point, bargaining-unit pay ranged from R11,283 to R54,176 a month. Adjusted for the wage increases since then, those workers are estimated to be earning between R18,475 and R81,248 in the 2025/26 financial year. Top earners in the bargaining unit would receive just under R1 million a year, still slightly below Eskom’s overall average cost per employee.
Even when removing disclosed executive and board salaries, the average remains around R1.025 million, indicating that managers, who account for around one-third of staff, are earning well above the headline figure. Because Eskom’s annual reports offer no detailed breakdowns, the exact distribution of wages remains opaque.
The wage talks now move into a more fractious phase, with unions unlikely to soften their stance and Eskom insisting that its offer reflects a sustainable path forward at a utility still burdened by debt, infrastructure challenges and a delicate recovery in performance.
