Moneyweb reports that labour representatives at SA Airways (SAA) have given mixed responses to the severance package proposal by the airline’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs).
On Friday, SAA’s unions received a draft settlement agreement offer open to all of SAA’s 4,708 employees that would see the termination of their employment contracts by 30 April in exchange for unguaranteed severance packages. At least one union, the National Transport Movement, has put forward a counter-offer with the aim of saving some jobs. Others (Solidarity, Saapa and Satawu) are consulting lawyers about the implications of signing the agreement, and two unions (Numsa and Sacca) have distanced themselves from the process altogether. The proposal for severance packages comes after Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan told the BRPs, Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana, that their request for a further R10 billion to sustain the rescue process would not be approved – a move that seems to have signalled the impending end for the airline. Without government funding, the BRPs have no choice but to wind down the business to avoid liquidation. A mutual agreement to terminate employment with defined retrenchment benefits might be in the best interests of SAA’s employees, as it would be secured ahead of other creditors should a liquidation become necessary. For those who do not accept the agreement, the current Section 189 retrenchment process will continue.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tebogo Tshwane at Moneyweb
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