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Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan
- The Department of Public Enterprises has accused the airline’s unions of working with opposition parties to sabotage the business rescue process.
- The department says the agreement reached with some unions for three-month payment of outstanding wages is fair, even though the unions demand full agreement.
- Unions have been urged to act to save the airline and help employees get their unpaid wages.
The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) led by Pravin Gordhan has accused some South African Airways (SAA) unions of working with opposition parties to deliberately undermine the airline’s business rescue process, and has asked them to end the process that started a year ago. does by agreeing to final settlement of employee deferred wages.
“Certain unions are deliberately undermining the process and appear to be allied with opposition parties to undermine the business rescue process,” the department said in a statement sent Monday night.
“You cannot access the revised position of some unions that demand the full settlement of pending salaries.”
SAA was the first state-owned company to enter a corporate bailout in December 2019 after bailouts amounting to more than R30 billion failed to save the airline after more than a decade of financial mismanagement, a collapse of governance and corruption. As part of the business rescue process, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, in the October medium-term budget, allocated R10.5 billion for the airline on the ground for a severance package for part of SAA staff and to make versus existing debt and other obligations. To raise the funds, in what was a politically unpopular move, the National Treasury had to cut back to other departments.
The DPE said that voluntary severance packages “made available to exiting SAA employees had ensured that these employees were not left homeless upon leaving SAA.”
“While DPE is sympathetic and deeply aware of the plight of SAA employees who have not received salaries while funds were being obtained for the airline’s restructuring, DPE considers the agreement reached with some unions on December 4, 2020 for the payment of three months for outstanding wages are fair and equitable.
The DPE said it “asks the unions to negotiate in good faith not only to save the airline, but also to allow SAA employees to receive their unpaid wages on time.”
Two of SAA’s most important unions are the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the South African Cabin Crew Association. Union-affiliated workers protested outside the airline’s headquarters last week on Thursday saying that corporate rescue professionals were keeping them in the dark.
SAA grounded its planes and has been unable to return to operations since the coronavirus outbreak in March, as business rescue professionals have tried to preserve funds. Rivals like Comair, who also jumped in the business rescue, have since resumed operations. Last week, the Cabinet urged the DPE to name a strategic equity partner for the airline, when reports emerged that the government was seeking to raise $ 400 million from the sale of a stake.
