Urgent Labour Court application to halt job cuts
THE RECOMMENDED plan by business rescue practitioners (BRPs) to turn around South African Airways (SAA) will be put to the test on Thursday after two trade unions filed an urgent labour court application as they seek to halt proposed job cuts at the cashstrapped airline.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) yesterday filed papers at the Labour Court to interdict the BRPs from retrenching employees at SAA.
The unions, which together represent about 3 000 SAA workers, are opposed to job losses that would come as a result of the airline terminating domestic routes as it faces liquidity challenges.
They also want the rescuers to comply with the provisions of the Labour Relations Act.
Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said the rescuers should comply with the 2019 wage agreement between the unions and SAA.
“We are also seeking an order from the court that the BRPs must be directed to comply with the terms of the wage agreement which was signed on November 25, 2019, which stipulates that workers facing retrenchment must be placed on the training lay-off scheme,” she said.
“The BRPs together with the SAA management have deliberately ignored this option, and instead, are pushing for mass retrenchments through the cancellation of routes.”
SAA’s joint rescuers, Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana, last week announced the closure of domestic routes – except for Joburg-Cape Town – by the end of the month and potential mass job losses as a result.
They said these initiatives, among others, would support the airline’s transformation into a sustainable and profitable business.
“It is our intention to restructure the business in a manner that we can retain as many jobs as possible. However, a reduction in the number of employees will unfortunately be necessary,” they said.
Yesterday the rescuers would not be drawn to comment on whether they would defend the union’s court application.
In November, the unions stopped SAA in its tracks from retrenching 944 workers to save about R700 million when it proposed a restructuring plan.
The unions’ sentiment about the closure of domestic routes is also shared by the government which has ordered that the BRPs decision be reviewed.
The Department of Public Enterprises said on Friday that the government would be making representations to Matuson and Dongwana to balance the necessity for trimming unprofitable routes.
Alf Lees, the DA’s member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, said there was no way SAA could be rescued without massive staff retrenchments.