SAA cadet quotas: Solidarity resumes campaign after white men were excluded
#StopSAA: An absolute barrier carrier
Today the trade union Solidarity resumed its public campaign against the South African Airways (SAA) when this airline accepted no white male candidates for its cadet programme. In August last year, the SAA lifted the ban on applications from white male students for its cadet programme after Solidarity had launched a major public protest campaign against the SAA.
According to Dirk Hermann, Deputy General Secretary of Solidarity, it is clear that the lifting of the ban was merely a smokescreen for continued racial discrimination by the airline. ‘The SAA's exclusion of white male candidates constitutes subsidised racism. The taxpayer is forced to pay for the government's obsession to apply national racial demographics at all levels, everywhere in South Africa, absolutely. This approach has led to racial figures becoming more important than service delivery.'
Yesterday the SAA announced that 40 candidates were admitted to its cadet programme. This group consists of ten black men, four black women, nine coloured men, one coloured woman, seven Indian men, two Indian women and seven white women.
Solidarity is appealing to white men who applied for the cadet programme but were unsuccessful to contact Solidarity through its website so that the trade union can investigate legal action on their behalf.
Hermann also called on South Africans to support the campaign. ‘Through this campaign we demand that the applications of all white men should be reviewed according to the same merits as other applicants, since quota systems so blatantly applied by the SAA is illegal in South Africa.'
The public can lodge protest by sending an SMS with the word ‘Kwota' to 34388. An SMS costs R2 and it will be counted as a protest message. The campaign can also be followed on Twitter at #StopSAA.
Statement issued by Dirk Hermann, Deputy General Secretary: Solidarity, June 11 2013
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