South African Airways and unions brokered a wage deal, which signaled the end of over a week-long strike by its labor union, protesting against retrenchment and wage increase. The strike, which had thrown the air services from South Africa and other cities world over had caused considerable, loses to the beleaguered airlines, which had to accommodate its booked passengers in other carriers. Aviation analysts say though the strike was resolved last Friday, the full operations of the airline may take a few more days.
In the meantime, a statement issued by SAA said that workers would resume duty after the weekend. The unions involved were the South African Cabin Crew Association and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, which resorted to strike on 15th November after the airline announced a restructuring process that could affect nearly 950 employees. The unions also wanted to have a pay hike for their 3 000 members. Their demand for a wage increase of 8% was finally settled at 5.9% and that too with conditions. The hike will shave off R 50 million daily, further straining the financial position of the airline, which already has a huge backlog of loses and unsettled claims.
Another take away of the agreement is the decision to postpone the retrenchment for the future. Analysts say the process of retrenchment would prop up next year, again causing friction between management and the union with a caveat that the financial position remains perilous. The decision was largely welcomed by all including the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and political parties. Travelers, who were undergoing umpteen difficulties for the last week or so also welcomed the end of the strike and hoped that very soon the normal services would be restored, SAA is the second-largest airline in Africa after the Ethiopian Airlines, which is way ahead of SAA in terms of a number of aircraft and routes covered.
In the meantime, the government and the management are openly talking about roping in other airlines to take stakes in SAA. It is reported that Ethiopian Airlines and Virgin Atlantic have evinced interests in taking some stakes of the airlines. But the discussions seem to be at a very nascent stage. The government will have to gather a lot of political will and determination to go for a foreign partner since it may meet with stiff resistance from the unions.
