SAA salaries may not be paid month end, says Gordhan

South African Airways (SAA) might not be able to pay salaries at the end of the month, warned Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan at a Parliamentary briefing on Wednesday.

At the briefing, which was called to provide feedback on Eskom’s status, Gordhan said the airline carrier did not have sufficient cash flow to pay salaries at the end of the month, Fin24 reported.

Following a deadlock in negotiations with unions on Tuesday, the minister warned unions picketing over salary increases that the airline may not even pay December salaries, meaning increases were out of the question.

Meanwhile, members of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA, the SA Cabin Crew Association and the SA Federation of Trade Unions plan to intensify the strike action following the deadlock in negotiations.

The unions have declared war on SAA management for backtracking on their proposed offer of 6.5% in salary hikes and have as a result issued a secondary strike notice to SAA.

The unions are demanding an 8% increment while the airline proposed a 5.9% hike from 2020, provided there is money available.

Gordhan said government would try to see if it was possible to get assistance for SAA, but this would be dependent on the parties being able to reach some type of understanding.

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