Read this article in:
English
5 October, 2023Proposals presented at the just energy transition summit confirmed key union positions on social dialogue, social protection, rights at work, job security, and job creation.
The summit, held 19-20 September in Johannesburg, was convened by the NUM under the theme: Ensuring an energy transition that is just for workers and communities.
The summit objectives included on providing “opportunities for trade unions to consider their overall responsibility to ensure that they achieve a Just Transition that safeguard and guarantees livelihoods.”
Over a hundred participants recommended possible strategies for the energy transition in South Africa. These included learning from experiences from other countries, skills training, and other energy policy interventions. The participants included shop stewards, union leaders, government ministers and officials, sector education and training authorities, representatives from the Presidential Commission on Climate Change, the United Federation of Workers in Denmark also known as 3F, and other stakeholders.
Speaking at the summit Pravin Gordan minister of public enterprises, said plans were underway to restructure or unbundle the power utility Eskom into generation, transmission, and distribution units, and to end “massive rent seeking” behaviour and corruption at the state-owned enterprise.
In the declarations made during the summit participants stated that they want the current energy transition plans to be delayed. This will ensure fairness of the transition process to workers and communities. The delegates also further agreed that the unbundling of Eskom should also be put to a halt to allow for further consultation.
Additionally, unions expressed concerns over job losses if the coal-fired power stations were closed without due process as confirmed by a Presidential Climate Commission preliminary report on the decommissioning of Komati -- Eskom’s oldest power station -- which led to job losses and the collapse of value chains that were beneficial to the communities.
“As a union we are extremely serious when we call for a Just Transition and very firm that the jobs of workers in the energy sector, at coal power stations, are not for sale. The reckless closure of power stations does not only plunge us into rolling blackouts and energy poverty but leaves the rest of the Mpumalanga province with ghost towns and high unemployment. This will further deindustrialize our country,”
said Irvin Jim, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa general secretary.
Mpho Phakedi, NUM acting general secretary said:
“It is important that unions are debating and finding common ground with the government and other stakeholders on the just energy transition agenda. However, at this summit, the NUM expected government ministers and officials to articulate pro-labour interventions in the energy transition, but their statements were unsatisfactory. We wanted the government to give trade unions guarantees that the well-being of workers will not be compromised.”
Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa said:
“IndustriALL supports the union demands to have an energy transition that protect jobs and workers interests. The energy pathways proposed by the NUM which include energy sovereignty, a public energy mandate for Eskom as well as a public approach to variable renewable energy are important for social dialogue on the just energy transition.”