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Fin24 reports that a property owned by a relative of a training pilot in the full-time employ of SA Airways (SAA) has been vandalised in the Eastern Cape, amid tensions between members of two different pilots’ unions.
The phrase "Tom u scab" was recently spray painted at the entrance of a safari lodge in the Eastern Cape, ostensibly targeted at the brother of the owner. There is as yet no proof of who did it and an investigation is continuing. The SAA Pilots' Association (Saapa) – which represents nearly 90% of the pilots at SAA – has been locked out since mid-December last year in an attempt by the airline to get Saapa to agree to cancel its long-standing regulating agreement and accept new terms of employment. While still locked out, Saapa members declared a strike earlier this year to prevent the company from lifting the lockout only for some pilots, especially training pilots, who are needed to get SAA back in the air again. A representative of the National Transport Movement (NTM) Pilots Forum, which consists mainly of pilots who left Saapa, claimed that more than one of its members "have been threatened by individuals who have shown no intention of cooperating with SAA". Saapa said the vandalism had nothing to do with it, but “we nonetheless do not condone any such actions and would condemn this or any similar behaviour if perpetrated by one of our members." In May, the Labour Court dismissed an interim application by Saapa, which sought to prevent SAA from using so-called "scab labour" in their absence. The main case is set to be heard next week. For training purposes, SAA claims it is using pilots whose lock-out conditions have been lifted or who were never been locked out in the first place.
Read the full original of the informative report in the above regard by Carin Smith at Fin24
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