The business rescue practitioners (BRPs) of troubled SA Airways have lost their bid to appeal an earlier Labour Court ruling that they cannot initiate retrenchments at the ailing national carrier without a plan.
On Thursday, the BRPs Siviwe Dongwana and Les Matuson lost their application for leave to appeal at the Labour Appeal Court after the unions succeeded at the Labour Court in Braamfontein, Johannesburg to have the planned retrenchment of 2 260 of SAA’s 4 700 employees withdrawn as they were premature and procedurally unfair.
Dongwana and Matuson argued that the Labour Court in May erred in finding that employees were completely protected from dismissal during business rescue proceedings until there is a business rescue plan.
They also told the Labour Court that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter without their permission and that the High Court had exclusive jurisdiction to interpret the act.
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the SA Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) have welcomed the Labour Appeal Court’s decision to dismiss the BRPs appeal.
Numsa and Sacca were highly critical of Dongwana and Matuson, accusing them of going against the Act in many respects, by failing to develop a business rescue plan within the stipulated period while charging exorbitant fees of nearly R36 million at great cost to the taxpayer.
According to the unions, SAA has now incurred an additional bill of R30 billion for planes which were parked and not being used.
They said Dongwana and Matuson were not a law unto themselves and cannot be given unfettered power to simply cut jobs as they wish, without adhering to the law which governs their existence.
In their response to the dismissal of their appeal, Dongwana and Matuson said: “The judgment is being studied and the company's position considered.”
SAA creditors will vote on the BRPs’ plan next week after it was eventually published on June 16.
However, the meeting was postponed to July 14 following more than two thirds of SAA’s creditors agreeing to postpone the meeting but 75% of the voting interests will be required for the business rescue plan to be adopted and prevent the airline’s possibly protracted and costly liquidation.