‘Touchdown and toyi-toyi” — that is the mantra for the week ahead as hundreds of South African Airways (SAA) pilots and thousands of gold miners prepare to meet on the ground for another wave of crippling strikes.
On Thursday the South African Airways Pilots Association (SAAPA) was locked in a meeting with SAA management and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in an attempt to reach an agreement on a labour dispute that ”has nothing to do with pay”, said SAAPA chairperson Piet Taljaard.
Their demands revolve around what they allege is a unilateral attempt by SAA management to change the terms of their contract.
While Taljaard said that their demands are sub judice because they are still before the CCMA, the Mail & Guardian understands that they revolve around the lifting of the flying-age limit of pilots and a retirement gratuity in addition to their pension payouts.
SAA employs 800 pilots. Entry-level pilots earn R430 000 a year, the most experienced pilots earn about R1,5-million a year. The average pilot’s salary is R800 000. In total, pilots’ remuneration costs SAA an annualised rate of R800-million.
Last Wednesday the SAAPA started their strike ballot, which will take two weeks because pilots are scattered around the country.
As work stoppages sweep through the economy, the country’s 80 000 gold miners are preparing to join the ranks of municipal workers, grocery clerks and airline crews who have downed tools over the past few weeks. On Sunday they will hit the tarmac in what is set to be the first strike in 18 years to grip this key sector.
”It’s difficult to bring the expectations of the unions down because they have been used to high wage increases in the past,” said Frans Barker, Chamber of Mines chief negotiator.
Mining firms gave their employees a 10% wage rise two years ago. Now they are offering a 4,5% to 5% wage increase plus bonus payments.
The bonus would kick in if the domestic gold price rose above the current R90 000 per kg average, adding 1% to wages for each R5 000 per kg above the benchmark.
But Moferefere Lekorotsoane of the National Union of Mineworkers lambasted the chamber’s offer as ”shameful”, saying that it will amount to a R90 increase for a worker earning an average of R2 000 a month.
”What does this mean?” asked Lekorotsoane. ”A man could buy his family one nice Saturday lunch — a huge chicken with a few chips, a roll and maybe a salad.”
Barker explained that the gold industry is at its lowest since the rand was introduced in 1961. The industry has posted an average loss of R4 000 per kg over the past four quarters, he said. ”Even at the height of the gold crisis in 1997 we still posted a profit of R4 000 per kg,” he said.
Dirk Herman, the deputy secretary general of the largely white trade union Solidarity, said that it is disingenuous for the chamber to peg wage increases to inflation because workers’ survival costs exceed the current CPIX of 3,5%.
”The weights in the inflation basket were last adjusted in 2001 and the weights no longer represent the spending patterns of consumers,” he said. ”The effect of rising property prices has not been factored into the CPIX figure and the price of administered items [school fees, water and electricity, property taxes, fuel prices and medical expenses] has also gone up. In 2004 Statistics South Africa calculated the cost of these items at 12,4%.”
In the air …
Piet Taljaard, South African Airways Pilots Association chairperson:
”The dispute is not about pay … Our demands are sub judice while still before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.”
JJ Tabane, SAA spokesperson:
”SAA does not wish to engage with pilots in public about any of the issues. There are processes we have put in place to resolve all the issues that are a bone of contention.”
… and underground
Dirk Herman, Solidarity deputy general secretary:
”The sooner employers realise that survival costs workers more than the official inflation figure, the sooner a great deal of industrial action of the kind seen in South Africa at present may be prevented.”
Frans Barker, Chamber of Mines chief negotiator:
”It’s difficult to bring the expectations of the unions down because they have been used to high wage increases in the past. Two years ago we gave a 10% wage rise. Now we are faced with a double whammy ‒ the inflation rate has dropped and the industry is struggling . We are still offering the miners an increase [4,5% to 5%] that exceeds the inflation rate, which is at 3,5%.”
Moferefere Lekorotsoane, National Union of Mineworkers:
”If the gold price was still in the R80 000s per kg we would understand that we’re not in good times, but the average gold price over the past two months has been between R90 000 and R92 000 per kg. A 5% increase will only amount to about R90 for a worker earning a salary of R2 000. That is shameful and disgusting.”