Satawu blames SAA for collusion
Cosatu union loses bargaining powers at airline
THE SA Transport and Allied Workers Union has accused SA Airways of colluding with rival unions to topple it at the parastatal.
Satawu spokesman Vincent Masoga confirmed this week that the union had been elbowed out of SAA.
He blamed the loss on a collusion between National Transport Movement (NTM), the SA Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) and SAA management.
Satawu lost organisational and bargaining powers following a recent membership verification process at the state-owned enterprise ’ s bargaining forum. The Cosatu affiliate in the transport sector has for many years enjoyed majority rights.
The membership verification process is a procedure in which all trade unions organising in a company submit membership forms of all the employees they have recruited. The unions that meet a set threshold in the company are then granted organisational rights. These entitle them to represent their members on labourrelated natters such as wage negotiations.
“We have not objected or queried the verification pro- cess. The results are unfair in terms of procedure. We are taking SAA to court and our legal representatives are submitting papers as we are speaking, ” Masoga said.
According to a letter from SAA ’ s employee relations department, which Sowetan has seen, the bargaining rights were wrestled away by a coalition of its breakaway unions, the NTM and Sacca.
“At the conclusion of such verification on 30 January 2015, the NTM and Sacca coalition had exceeded the minimum required representivity threshold of 25% as stipulated in clause 6.3,” read the letter.
“Please be advised that SAA has therefore granted the NTM and Sacca coalition organisational and collective bargaining rights in terms of clause 54.3 of the SAA bargaining constitution with effect from 1 February 2015.”
SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali confirmed that a membership verification process took place but refused to give details of which unions garnered more votes.
“SAA does not consider it appropriate to share the details of the verification process with parties outside its labour-relations framework unless it is justified to do so,” Tlali said.
NTM general secretary Ephraim Mphahlele said the verification process confirmed that the union represented 27% of workers while Sacca had 13%, which totalled 40%. Willie van Eeden of United Association of SA said they got 27%, which put them 2% above the required minimum threshold. Sacca ’ s Zazi NsibanyoniAnyiam said in an e-mail response that she was not able to comment.
Satawu is the second Cosatu affiliate to lose ground in the sector they are organising in. On the platinum belt in Rustenburg, North West, the NUM lost its majority status to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union in 2013.
Labour analyst Terry Bell said Cosatu-affiliated unions were losing membership to other unions because of their one-sector-one-union policy that has failed to work.
He cited expelled affiliate National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) which organises in the mining industry as well while the federation has three unions in the nursing sector.