Several trade unions representing workers at South African Airways (SAA) have joined forces against the proposed restructuring of the airline, they said on Thursday.
The Restructuring Labour Caucus (RLC) said it had written to SAA’s management and board voicing dissatisfaction.
The RLC is made up of the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu), the United Association of South Africa (Uasa), the South African Airways Flight Engineers’ Association and the Aviation Union of South Africa.
RLC spokesperson Susan Venter said failure by management to respond to their initial letter written in April prompted them to write a reminder on Wednesday, giving management seven days to respond.
”While the RLC wholeheartedly supports the need to return SAA to financial viability and profitability, we have grave concerns regarding some aspects of the proposed plan and cannot fully endorse it in its current format.”
Venter’s statement relates to an announcement by SAA chief executive Khaya Ngqula that up to 1 000 staff could be retrenched as part of efforts to return the airline to profitability.
The report caused a stir among the airline’s employees, with Satawu threatening strike action.
What irked unions the most was the fact that they had not been consulted.
Venter, who is a member of Uasa, said workers cannot be ”expected to bear the brunt of the restructuring pain”.
”The timeline under which this plan has been developed is unreasonably short and has not provided sufficient opportunity for the RLC to review and analyse information and contribute to the plan that was approved by SAA board on May 2.
”Some of the assumptions used to formulate the business plan are not realistic and some may not guarantee success,” she said.
Venter said the RLC ”does not believe that labour costs are significantly responsible for SAA’s current financial problem.”
SAA spokesperson Robyn Chalmers said the airline had engaged with labour unions throughout the restructuring process, starting from December last year.
”SAA communicated in writing to the RLC about the airline’s need to restructure and possible downsizing, as required by Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act.”
She said the airline had even held workshops with staff throughout the restructuring process.
”We have received extensive input from our staff on how to improve operations at the airline, which we have taken seriously. We will continue to engage our staff members throughout the airline to ensure they are on board as we move forward.”
Chalmers could, however, not indicate if the board would respond to the RLC letter within the seven days given to it. — Sapa