Business Times reports that just over a week into its first strike in more than 50 years, the SAA Pilots' Association (Saapa) says it will continue the industrial action at SAA for as long as it takes to see its demands met.
They include that the embattled airline retrench them at their existing salaries by Wednesday. The strike would prevent SAA from using members, who included senior pilots, instructors and check pilots, to re-train and certify pilots, said Grant Back, chair of Saapa and a captain at SAA, on Friday. Members include seven Saapa management pilots and instructors who were not included in the lock-out of SAA pilots but who have joined the strike. Saapa, which represents 89% of pilots at SAA and has been locked out of the airline by its business rescue practitioners (BRPs) since 18 December, maintains its strike action is a direct "defensive" response to the lock-out. "They [the business rescue practitioners] did not lock out seven Saapa pilots who are management pilots and instructors. In the airline industry these are called post holders and they need to occupy these positions in order for the airline to maintain its air operating certificate [AOC]. Without these post holders and instructors at the airline it will prevent further operations. Due to the strike they don't have anyone, as required by Civil Aviation Authority [CAA] regulations, holding those posts and they can't operate now without those posts being filled,” Back pointed out. As this was a "defensive strike" in response to the company's lock-out of the union, the airline was prevented from bringing in "scab labour" or outside training organisations and it could potentially result in SAA losing its AOC and derail any potential relaunch plans, Saapa claimed. But BRP Siviwe Dongwana claimed on Friday that according to their "labour lawyer advice, we are entitled to employ scab labour because we believe the move by Saapa is not a defensive strike". The BRPs maintain that the pilots' strike will not delay the finalisation of the SAA business rescue process, which is due to be wrapped up soon.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nick Wilson at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
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