The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has urged individual pilots at embattled South African Airways (SAA) to accept voluntary severance packages (VSPs) ahead of a crucial business rescue vote today.
The department, which is a sole shareholder of SAA, said in a statement, it was worried about the stance taken by the South African Airways Pilots Association’s (SAAPA).
“The DPE calls on individual pilots to accept South African Airways (SAA’s) VSPs and reject their union’s greedy demands, which appear to be magnanimous. [The] South African Airways Pilots Association has made proposals, including to the SAA Business Rescue Practitioners that create the optical illusion of financial savings for the airline,” said the department in a statement.
The Department added that the 600 SAA pilots make up 13% of SAA staff and constitutes 45% of the wage bill.
“The lowest of SAA’s 170 senior pilots earn R3.6 million a year, excluding perks and incentives. Of the R2.2 billion proposed budget for the VSPs, pilots will get more than R1 billion,” it said.
The airline went into voluntary business rescue in December 2019 and introduced a radical restructuring process to ensure its financial and operational sustainability to reduce its ongoing impact on the fiscus.
