Pilots have voted in favour of an in-principal settlement agreement with national carrier South African Airways, bringing to an end a deadlock that has lasted over 6 months
Members of the SAA Pilots Association(SAAPA) which represents 383 pilots, were locked out in December 2020 after they refused to accept employment terms from the airline’s business rescue practitioners. The lockout meant that the employees were not entitled to work, and that SAA was not obliged to pay salaries from the date of the lockout. The labor court found that the lockout was legal and protected in terms of the Labor Relations Act
According to the SAA business plan, the national airline is expected to retain only 88 pilots meaning that close to 500 Pilots will have been trimmed from the airline including those who voluntarily took their severance packages and those that will now be retrenched
The Department of Public enterprises as well as the practitioners always maintained that a high cost structure under SAAPA’s Regulating Agreement was one of the legacy issues holding the airline back and hampering its advancement towards restructuring and acquiring an equity partner
The DPE’s spokesperson Richard Mantu speaking in December at the time of the lockout said: “Unfortunately, the RA that was signed in 1988 is a financial burden to the national airline, as its primary objective is to preserve undeserved privileges accrued through unjust laws that preserved aviation careers to a small minority in this country.”
The agreement will clear the path for the next step in the SAA restart under its new private sector majority equity partner
“The in-principle agreement is now being put into proper legal context and language. In terms of the agreement, SAAPA members, who haven’t been paid in 15 months, will start receiving payments within 72 hours of the agreement being signed, including the 13th cheque owed from two years ago,” said SAAPA chairperson, Captain Grant Black, according to News24
