Johannesburg - Thousands of workers at the Medupi power plant that Eskom is building stayed away from work again on Tuesday, but their union said it hoped the dispute could be resolved for work to resume on Wednesday.
About 1 700 contract workers at Eskom's Medupi plant were fired this month for destroying property during a one-day strike over poor living conditions and higher pay.
About 17 000 workers, including members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), have since stayed away from work at the plant on their own volition in solidarity with the fired colleagues.
“We will report back to our members today. I am confident that they will accept the offer,” Steve Nhlapo head of collective bargaining for the Numsa told Reuters, referring to an agreement reached with Eskom.
Labour disruption and technical faults have increased costs at Eskom's Medupi coal-fired plant, expected to start generating 800 megawatts of extra electricity by July. The strike was not affecting work on Unit 6 of the plant, which is expected to start generating power in July, Eskom has previously said.
Once fully complete, the long-delayed power plant would become South Africa's first new power station to come online in 20 years and help to address a chronic supply shortage.
Eskom has been forced to implement controlled power cuts in Africa's most advanced economy this year to prevent the national grid from being overwhelmed. South Africa's government says the electricity outages are expected to last two years.
Reuters