Embattled national carrier’s Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana on Monday said they had begun consultations with SAA employees with regards to impending retrenchments and salary cuts at the airline.
The BRPs in a statement said they had issued notices of consultation to all the recognised unions in SAA for employees and management as the the restructuring of the airline.
“Regrettably, this restructuring exercise, if implemented, may lead to positions being declared redundant across various job categories and in significant numbers. This may, in turn, result in the dismissal of employees employed by the Company, for operational reasons,” the BRPs said.
The restructuring process will affect all SAA’s 4700 employees but would not affect employees of its subsidiaries, Mango, SAA Technical and Airchefs.
The BRPs said employees will be selected for positions within the new structure based on service length, skills, qualification and experience in respect of the job categories indicated, taking into account employment equity objectives.
Matuson and Dongwana said “significant” changes to conditions of employment, including remuneration and benefits, appear unavoidable and will be sought by agreement.
“We must emphasize that no final decisions have yet been taken, nor will any final decisions be taken until we have exhausted consultation and hopefully reached agreement.”
They added that they had entertained a number of alternative options, including potential consolidation of management structures, reducing fixed term employees, accelerating the Long-Term Turnaround Strategy, changing of scope in certain procurement contracts and the early termination of certain procurement contracts but that none of these however, would assist SAA in achieving all of its required operational efficiencies.
By Kabelo Khumalo
Job and salary cuts on the cards at SAA
