Eskom Strike Ends as South African Unions Sign Wage Deal

  • Eskom will increase pay by 7.5% and give one-time cash payment
  • Labor action resulted in protests and nationwide blackouts

Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg

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South Africa’s state-owned power utility, which generates most of the nation’s electricity, reached a pay deal with labor unions after strikes that crippled the grid.

The National Union of Mineworkers and National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa signed a three-year wage agreement backdated to July 1 with Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. Pay will increase 7.5 percent in the first year and 7 percent in each subsequent year, and employees will get a one-time cash payment of 10,000 rand ($685) after tax, the unions said.