BusinessLive reports that employees of SA Airways (SAA) who are members of the National Union of Metalworkers SA (Numsa) and the SA Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) picketed outside OR Tambo, King Shaka, Cape Town and East London airports on Wednesday.
They threatened that if their demands were not met, there would be a total shutdown of the aviation industry. They gave the government seven days to fire the entire board of the airline and to persuade CEO Vuyani Jarana to withdraw his resignation. Jarana officially stepped down as CEO on Monday. SAA GM for operations Zuks Ramasia was appointed as acting CEO on Friday. Numsa and Sacca accused the SAA’s board members of presiding over massive corruption at the airline. The unions also said they were not happy about problems in the maintenance department and about allegations of nepotism and tribalism. They were moreover not happy about corruption allegations at SAA Technical. “Should our demands not be met, we will mobilise our members across SAA and other airlines where we are organised, including SAA subsidiaries Air Chefs, Mango, SAA Technical, and suppliers within the value chain and embark on a strike which will shut down [the] aviation [industry] as a whole,” the unions indicated in their memorandum.
- Read the full original of Luyolo Mkentane’s report at BusinessLive
- See too, SAA told to reinstate Jarana immediately or face a strike, at Business Report
- View the unions’ memorandum of demands at Polity
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page