Strikes will drag firms, economy down with SAA – economist

If unions carry out their threats to bring the entire South African aviation sector to a halt, it will have international and domestic ramifications.

The threats, made by National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca), came as South African Airways (SAA) geared up for legal action after a statement made by the unions that the national carrier was unsafe and operated with inexperienced staff.

The unions called upon their sister unions and the entire aviation industry to join them in the strike, should SAA fail yet again to deliver on their demands of an 8% wage increment and to halt about 900 retrenchments.

Economist Varaidzo Shayanewako said the proposed strike would not only cause harm to its revenues but would threaten businesses who depended on the sector.

Affected organisations include the Civil Aviation Authority, Mango Airlines; SAfair; SA Express; Airports Company South Africa; Reshebile security, Morena cleaning, maintenance company Vizini, Azda, Swissport, Bidair services and Comair.

Unions are also consulting airline catering companies such as Airchefs and Dnata.

“What’s more worrisome is the negative impact the strike would transmit to other industries depending on it for revenue growth,” Shayanewako said.

“Already it has cost individuals and business a lot of money. It is the festive season and millions depend on SAA for travel. It is important for SAA and the unions to find common ground before throwing yet another weight on an already battling economy.”

Shayenawako said the strike sent a message of unreliability to international communities and some investors could consider pulling out on investments.

On Sunday, SAA CEO Zuks Ramasia voiced “concern” about the unions’ intentions and urged them to “reconsider”.

“The intent of a secondary strike is to cause disruption, bring all airport operations to a halt and create huge damage to the South African economy,” Ramasia said in a statement.

The CEO added that SAA could not “afford to pay any salary increases” and reiterated the 5.9 percent rise offer.

“The company has repeatedly communicated the precarious financial position of the company,” Ramasia said.

The possible strike followed three days of negotiations between the unions and SAA. Numsa, Sacca and SAA deadlocked on Saturday. The unions were demanding a 8% wage increment, in-sourcing of contractual workers and a halt to possible retrenchments.

SAA announced yesterday some regional flights would take off today, while international flights were restored on Sunday. Domestic flights are still grounded and passengers are being rebooked on Mango and SA Express, which are part of the SAA group.

On Sunday, unions said workers were still on strike and the airline was operating with under-qualified staff.

These claims were rejected by Ramasia, who said the unions must retract their comments or face legal action.

Numsa and Sacca said they would not do that and welcomed possible legal action.

• Additional reporting by AFP

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