Durban - SAA’s decision to close certain routes to save the company money could result in a large number of job losses, unions said on Saturday.
During his State of the Nation address last week, President Jacob Zuma said that, while some international routes, including China, would be cut, there would be no negative effects of this move.
“Accordingly, some of the loss-making international routes will be phased out. But we will do this in a manner that does not impact negatively on travel, trade and tourism between South Africa and the world,” Zuma said.
However, unions say that, despite a process to implement a 90-day turnaround strategy aimed at stabilising SAA’s finances, cutting routes will lead to unemployment.
Spokesman for the SA and Allied Workers Union Vincent Masoga said that, if SAA chose to close certain routes, its decision could not be at the cost of workers.
He said: “SAA has been under a barrage of attacks and criticism from advocates of privatisation, and as a result it seems to have buckled under pressure to allow itself to use unpopular efficiency methods to reduce overheads.
“We have already noticed that SAA has resorted to union bashing and unfair labour practices as a means to softly wage a war against employment,” he said.
Masoga said the union was against any retrenchments.
“We will use all means available to convince or force SAA and its shareholders to retract from an exercise of retrenchments and unfair labour practices,” said Masoga.
Katishi Masemola, the general secretary of the Food and Allied Workers Union, said the union hoped the restructuring or cancellation of routes would not be used to argue for privatisation in the future.
“This should not mean retrenchments, but should be a restructuring mechanism to increase efficiency of the carrier and to propel it towards profitability.”
SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali said the airline was not able to comment. He had not received any feedback at the time of going to press.
Sunday Tribune