BusinessLive reports that SA Airways’ (SAA’s) joint business rescue practitioners (BRPs) have sent a lockout notice to the airline’s pilots warning they will be excluded from the workplace from Friday until they agree to the terms of a proposed agreement aimed at bringing the state-owned carrier back to profitability.  

The SA Airways Pilots Association (Saapa), which represents all 383 affected pilots, has accused the BRPs of being on a power trip and advised it was consulting its lawyers on the matter.  The unprofitable airline has been in business rescue since December 2019 and relies on government bailouts to stay afloat.  It was recently allocated R10.5bn in state funding to implement its business rescue plan.  On Wednesday, the BRPs said pilots who were Saapa members would be excluded from the workplace until their association accepted their demands.  These included the termination of the “regulating agreement” between SAA and Saapa, an evergreen collective agreement regulating the terms and condition of employment of pilots.  They want Saapa to accept a new, three-year collective agreement that entails reducing all pilots’ salaries by 50%.  An average pilot salary is R2.9m, rising to as much as R4.6m for senior captains.  The new agreement also proposes cuts to leave and the daily allocation.  

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive

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