Eskom salary negotiations have been suspended until Tuesday as negotiators from the power utility asked for time to engage their principals.
Unions confirmed to Sowetan on Monday that this came after they asked Eskom during the morning session to make a wage increase offer without attaching any conditions to it.
Eskom had tabled a 1.5% offer, which was rejected by the three unions, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), National Union of Metalworkers and Solidarity who demand 9% and 15%. Eskom's offer, which came with conditions on the varying of benefits that employees already have.
NUM, the majority union at Eskom, said labour felt that the power utility was yet to make any offer that did not speak about the varying of benefits.
"We are here [at the wage negotiations] to negotiate, we are not here to vary conditions of employment down... we are waiting for their response," NUM's acting secretary William Mabapa said.
Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said: "We are in our engagement with Eskom management, we said we reject the 1.5% with conditions... we don't want to pre-empt, we will wait and see what they say."
Hlubi-Majola said they were of the view that Eskom was yet to make a wage increase offer, which they expect to get when negotiations resume.
Meanwhile, Eskom has said even though it was going into this round of the wage negotiations with an open mind their offer was reflective of the current economic conditions and the financial status of the organisation.
The negotiations are expected to resume on Tuesday at 9am in Sandton, with Eskom giving its response.
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