SAA faces all-out strike

WAGE DISPUTE: ANGRY UNIONS THREATEN TO GROUND ALL FLIGHTS

Public urged to make alternative arrangements as national airline gets 48-hour notice.

Unions representing workers of the struggling South African Airways (SAA) look set to go through with their threat to ground all its flights as they plan to embark on a nationwide strike, scheduled to start tomorrow.

This comes after the stateowned airline had announced its intention to retrench over 900 workers allegedly without informing affiliated unions, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and South

African Cabin Crew Association (SACAA), whom they were still in wage talks with.

Numsa and SACAA held a joint press briefing yesterday to urge the public to make alternative arrangements as they had served SAA and SAA Technical with a 48hour notice to strike which was scheduled to start tomorrow at 4am. They said they were still open to talks and should they go forward with their strike, it would go on indefinitely, until they reached a resolution.

SACAA president Zazi Sibanyoni-Mugambi said: “We have deadlocked with the employer over our wage demands, which include an 8% across-the-board wage increase, job security for at least three years and insourcing of all services which are outsourced and which SAA has the capacity to fulfil including security, cleaning, IT, ground-handling and logistics.”

According to their statement, they said they were “simply” demanding an increase because pilots had received a 5.9% increase and SAA had agreed to pay them. “Our members earn much lower than pilots which is why the demand is 8%.”

After denying being consulted about the struggling airline’s intention of retrenchments before discovering it through a media statement, the unions said they wholeheartedly rejected SAA’s explanations.

“They claim that they cannot meet our demands because there is not enough money and that the dismissal of 944 workers will save the airline R700 million and ensure its survival.

“It is our view that this is nothing more than an attempt to force workers to drop their demands for an increase, which they deserve and have worked very hard for. The SAA board and executive management is responsible for the crisis affecting the airline.”

Sibanyoni-Mugambi went on to say apart from the SAA board and executive management having been “a total failure” in their “fiduciary” duties to ensure the airline operated profitably, two other true causes for the airline’s crises were “failure to deal with and review evergreen and bloated contracts and corruption and looting of the airline and its assets”.

“It is unacceptable that 11 000 workers must sacrifice their livelihoods for the failures of a corrupt board and incompetent management. We call on all other workers to join us in this protected strike,” Sibanyoni-Mugambi said.

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Our members earn much lower than pilots