JOHANNESBURG - THE government has thrown its weight behind the decision taken by SA Airways (SAA) business rescue practitioners to lock out the airline’s pilots in their dispute over proposed terms and conditions of employment.
The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) said yesterday that it supported the decision to lockout members of the SAA Pilots Association (Saapa) after protracted negotiations failed to yield agreements.
The lockout means that 383 Saapa members would not be allowed entry to the airline’s premises or get paid their salaries until an agreement was reached.
Saapa was not immediately available for comment for its next course of action.
SAA rescuers on Wednesday issued Saapa with a 48-hour notice of a lockout, effective at noon today, after negotiations reached a deadlock.
SAA pilots, the highest paid staff at the airline, want the Regulating Agreement (RA) that was signed in 1988 to remain intact at the restructured airline.
The DPE said SAA needed to reduce the high-cost structure caused by onerous contracts and high salaries and perks implemented under the pilots’ RA.
It said that the agreement was a financial burden to SAA as its primary goal was to preserve undeserved privileges accrued through unjust laws.
“These privileges came with unaffordable benefits and a salary framework, which should be terminated,” the DPE said. “We agree with the business rescue practitioners (BRPs) and their insistence on addressing the RA, as it cannot become part of the new SAA. “The lockout strategy, undertaken by SAA, is commendable considering the negative impact the RA has had on the airline’s bottom line.”
In November last year, SAA launched an application at the Labour Court and High Court seeking to declare the RA unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid. The matter is still pending.
SAA has among the highest cost base in terms of pilots’ salaries, meal allowances, leave and sick pay, and travel rebates benefits internationally.
The DPE said SAA pilots were the second-most highly paid in the world, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata).
But Iata distanced itself from the “false assertion” that it had compared SAA pilots’ remuneration with those at other airlines. “As an industry body, Iata represents, leads and serves the industry on matters of common interest, but it may not become involved in individual airlines’ commercial or employment affairs,” it said.
“For this reason, Iata is not privy to such details and has not conducted a comparison of SAA pilots’ remuneration or provided any such information to the DPE.”
According to SAA rescuers proposal, pilots’ salaries would be slashed 50 percent and the per diem allowances would be reduced from $155 (R2 274) a day, depending on the destination, to $70 a day regardless of destination.
“The new terms and conditions and salary scales are essential for the new competitive and successful SAA, which will initially require 88 pilots to become cost-effective and more productive,” SAA rescuers said.
“The new proposed terms … are aligned to the Civil Aviation Authority and will provide SAA a better chance at being a sustainable airline.”
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