Solidarity takes Eskom to court over affirmative action plan

Trade union Solidarity has asked the Labour Court to declare Eskom’s current affirmative action plan invalid.

Solidarity said it believes the race-based plan will further “deplete Eskom’s skills corps and exacerbate the current power crisis which will have a negative effect on all the people in South Africa”.

“Eskom has failed to engage in sufficient consultations with the parties concerned regarding its new affirmative action plan before the plan was finalised,” said Solidarity.

“Qualifications are not distributed equally among the different population groups. It is therefore unreasonable for Eskom to expect that job levels requiring specific qualifications should reflect the racial distribution of the population.”

Solidarity said Eskom wants to get rid of about 1,967 professionally qualified and skilled employees as part of its plans, and national racial demographics should be reflected at all levels in the company by 31 March 2020.

“It is a lose-lose situation that will have a negative effect on all the people in South Africa. With our court action, we are attempting to put a stop to this destructive practice.”

The table below was provided by Solidarity, which it says represents the distribution of relevantly-qualified people in Eskom.

Solidarity – Eskom

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