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The Sunday Independent writes that SA Airways (SAA) and organised labour are not on the same plane when it comes to SAA’s proposed turnaround strategy.
The state-owned enterprise (SOE) recently announced that it would restructure itself into domestic, regional and international business units, but trade unions responded that they were not aware of the proposal. According to SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali, the CEO, Vuyani Jarana, has had bilateral meetings with labour unions, including the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu), “and the operating model has been shared extensively.” The SOE is struggling to stay afloat with a debt of R12.7billion, which the government has guaranteed. But, Satawu spokesperson Zanele Sabela said the union was not aware of the SAA plan and likened Jarana’s announcement on the matter to the unfolding situation at power utility Eskom. “Unbundling is a precursor to privatisation and synonymous with job losses. We view this latest plan by SAA as a move towards privatisation. We are all too aware of the jobs bloodbath that resulted from the privatisation of Telkom and we cannot afford to see the same happen to SAA,” Sabela said. Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the model was inappropriate, while Saftu spokesperson Patrick Craven said the model could lead to job losses.
- Read the original of Manyane Manyane’s report on the SAA restructuring in full at Independent News
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page