SAA strike will only hasten its demise
15 November 2019
More than just the fate of South African Airways is at stake should members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA) go on strike tomorrow.
At its core is a fundamental clash between those who think magically and those who deal with market realities. The resolution of this divide is critical to the overall economy.
It is time to be blunt about the choices involved by unions faced with collapsing enterprises. In this case, either SAA is given one last chance to haul itself out of the financial hole decades of mismanagement have put it in, or the strike goes ahead, the airline collapses, and everyone employed is without a job.
Union members and their leaders will have to face the fact that they can do nothing by striking but hasten the demise of SAA. The best to be hoped for is that a drastically slimmed down airline returns to profitability and begins to pay back the millions of taxpayers’ money it has borrowed.