No flights affected by SAA strike, says Acsa

Published Aug 28, 2013

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Johannesburg - A threatened strike by technical members of the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) at SAA had had no impact on flights on Monday, Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) spokeswoman Debra Francis said yesterday.

SAA issued a warning at the weekend that passengers should telephone to check whether flights were departing on time.

Satawu called for the strike because SAA had gone ahead with granting an increase in basic pay without increasing allowances for meals and dress. The call was obeyed by only a few members and had no effect on flights, Francis said.

A spokesperson for the union said the national rugby team, returning from Argentina, had been unable to disembark for 68 minutes after landing at OR Tambo International Airport on Monday.

Francis said an airplane from Buenos Aires was delayed for less than 68 minutes because of congestion when several aircraft arrived in a short period, not because of strike action.

“We do not know who the passengers were.”

SAA has been affected by record-high fuel prices, which have since dropped. At one point it had to call for a government loan to secure supplies of fuel.

During pay negotiations SAA assured staff that there would be no job losses if there was no strike action.

Meanwhile, the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union has called for a strike over the dismissal by Sun International of 14 shop stewards for failing to attend an independent disciplinary hearing.

The shop stewards are alleged to have organised a protest against the racist attitude of the Gupta family, who insisted on only white waiters at a wedding reception at Sun City recently.

Kele Mazwai, the human resources director at Sun City, said Sun International had followed due process in dismissing the shop stewards. They had been temporarily banned from the complex to prevent them from causing a disruption. - Business Report

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