Two of South Africa's major labour unions have accepted state power utility Eskom's 7% wage increase offer, while a third has rejected it and declared a deadlock, demanding a higher raise, union representatives said on Thursday.

Eskom began pay talks last year with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and Solidarity, with several rounds of negotiations continuing until this month.

The utility's final offer was a 7% pay increase in each of the three years under negotiation, effective from July 2026.

NUM energy sector coordinator Khangela Baloyi and Solidarity general secretary Gideon du Plessis said their members had accepted the offer.

"Our members gave us a mandate to accept Eskom's final offer. We will sign the agreement tomorrow," said Du Plessis.

Numsa members are demanding a bigger increase.

"Our members demand 8% in the first year," said Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim. "We have declared a deadlock, we can end up in arbitration and accompanied by demonstrations."

An Eskom spokesperson said the company remained committed to the process, adding that "salary negotiations with our trade unions are at a critical stage".

Eskom has weighed on Africa's largest economy for years due to power cuts and financial troubles, but improved performance at its coal-fired power stations has halted outages and the utility has projected a sustained improvement in its finances in coming years.