Satawu hands memorandum of demands to Sacaa.

Satawu said it had a good track record with its members and did not appreciate “union bashing tactics applied by civil aviation”.

The union’s provincial secretary, Christopher Nkosi said civil aviation management and chief executive officer, Poppy Khoza were not fit to run the company. “Khoza and her team do not understand the basics of the Labour Relations Act,” said Nkosi. “These people are appointed to positions they do not qualify for and mess up unions.

“We demand that the company adhere to all approved Sacaa policies and procedures all the time. We want the CEO and management to be held accountable if they mismanage.”

The union demanded that civil aviation must comply with the settlement agreement reached with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration on issues of salary normalisation and discrepancies. The authority must also comply with the employment equity plan and divulge the outcome of conducted investigations in the past, and re-instate the recognition agreement signed between the two parties.

In a statement, civil aviation claimed that it had no prior knowledge of the issues the union wanted to raise at the march, but they were prepared and aware of the march.

The statement read: “It has always been Sacaa’s management’s wish to all challenges be resolved around a negotiation table. It is regrettable that this principle has not been upheld by labour representatives.”

Civil aviation said they were still ”keen to have a vibrant labour representation and are committed in fostering sounds relations with all parties in the work place”.

Meanwhile, at the march Khoza accepted and signed the memorandum amidst angry shouts from the marchers.

Khoza said, “We receive the memorandum and the civil aviation will read it through and come back to the union with a response within the stated 14 days.”