A strike at SA Airways by members of the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) is over, both parties said on Thursday.
”The suspension was arrived at in the context of a written agreement reached with SAA today [Thursday],” a Satawu statement said.
”Satawu and its members have achieved a major victory as labour brokers will be phased out.”
The union said certain employees had the opportunity to possibly become directly employed by SAA.
Satawu said the agreement allowed for the establishment of a sub-committee which would gather information from management about labour brokers and agencies across all departments.
The committee will implement the phasing out of labour brokers over a period of between nine and eighteen months.
SAA spokesperson Robyn Chalmers confirmed that the airline had reached an agreement with the union to end the strike, which began in February.
”The main element is that we will phase out labour brokers over a period of time,” said Chalmers.
”We expect a full complement of staff back at work from Monday.”
Chalmers said only a small percentage of ground staff and cabin crew members took part in the strike.
”It [the strike] did not have a serious impact on our operations, and we don’t expect any impact over the weekend,” she said. – Sapa