SAA pilots continue strike as tensions rise over pay and leadership

Striking South African Airways (SAA) pilots and the airline management were deadlocked yesterday, with the flight crew vowing to continue their industrial action “indefinitely” unless the airline gives in.

Trade union National Transport Movement Pilots Forum (NTM) was said to have accepted a tentative offer, but the SAA Pilot Union had rejected it outright.

A senior captain said if SAA did not bend to their demands, the strike would continue indefinitely. “It is not just about the wage increase,” the pilot said.

Pilots say strike will continue if demands not met

“We also want management change. They need to replace most of the managers quickly because, despite SAA making a nominal profit, it will be shortlived if current management is allowed to continue their tenure.”

SAA’s chief medical officer, Dr Nhlanhla Sishaba, was suspended earlier this year for allegedly issuing fraudulent medical certificates to pilots.

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Sales and marketing manager Carla Da Silva and other staff in the marketing department also face a Hawks investigation and a civil suit for the misappropriation of competing airline Airlink’s sensitive commercial information.

“But there’s more,” said the pilot, “and we want incompetent, inept and corrupt persons out of the business.”

SAA pilots’ salaries hover among the lowest rungs of the pay ladder, compared with other national carriers, one pilot said.

Pilots’s salaries low

However, some low-cost airlines in the country pay even less, with the starting salary for a first officer about R25 000 a month, almost the same wage as a store manager in a small retail outlet.

Said another pilot: “We are not fat cats, as SAA and the media like to portray us. Pilots have spent millions on education, thousands each year on remaining current with our competencies, and we’re responsible for the lives of all our passengers. It would be appreciated to be valued.”

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Hundreds of SAA ticket holders were stranded yesterday, after the strike disrupted flights at OR Tambo International Airport.

Long queues of passengers had formed at airports for morning flights by the time the airline notified them that the flights would be delayed or cancelled.

One traveller heading to Brazil shared his frustration, saying he had been waiting at the airport for over two hours.

Stranded passengers

“We are frustrated. My flight to Brazil has been cancelled, and my holiday is in shambles because we don’t know what’s next. I received an e-mail this morning saying there was an issue, but it didn’t explain why the flight was cancelled.

“When we got here, we were met with the same vague explanations. My holiday is booked, I’m supposed to check in at my hotel tonight. Now they’re saying we might only get a flight tomorrow, which is unacceptable,” he said.

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Outside the airport, at the SAA Airways Park, striking pilots held placards with messages such as “Overworked and underpaid” and “Safety is non-negotiable.”

The associations initially tabled a 30% wage increase demand when negotiations started in May but later reduced it to 15.7%.

However, SAA tabled an 8.4% offer, saying it was benchmarked against international pilot salary adjustments and was in line with increments granted to SAA staff members in June.

SAA’s offer

But strike committee chair, Captain Sibusiso Nxumalo accused SAA of lacking meaningful engagement.

“Despite eight months of engagement, we had only four-and-a-half days of actual discussions, which has led to this action. Management has not participated in a fair manner to address our concerns, especially regarding the percentage increase we’ve requested,” he said.

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“Our initial figure was based on our research as the negotiating team. The 30% figure was an indication to the company that the salary cuts we endured pre-Covid were equivalent to a 30% increase. What we presented was a 15.7% increase, conditional on improved working conditions. It is not a purely monetary-based increase,” Nxumalo said.

About 140 of the 161 SAA pilots are participating in the strike.