NUMSA and SACCA to intensify strike at SAA
17 November 2019
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA) met with the management of SAA yesterday under the auspices of the CCMA section 150 mediation. The purpose of the meeting was to help resolve the dispute between the parties.
NUMSA and SACCA have jointly taken a decision to embark on strike action at SAA and SAA Technical. Following a lengthy meeting we adjourned yesterday night having not resolved the strike. The meeting ended without us finding one another. It is clear to us that the management of SAA is not prepared to do what is necessary to save the airline and end corruption.
One of our key demands is the demand for insourcing because we know this is necessary in order to solve the airlines cash flow problems. SAA management refuses to accept this demand which confirms in our minds, that they are dishonest when they claim they want to save SAA. This is confirmed by the decision to cancel additional flights on Sunday. The employer is not looking to resolve the dispute.
Both NUMSA and SACCA have resolved that the strike must be intensified. This is because the board together with some executive managers would rather see SAA collapse, than deal with rooting out corruption, looting and maladministration. SAA must drastically reduce its costs. And insourcing services which it has the capacity to offer internally is an obvious solution. Their refusal is proof that they want the airline to collapse.
Therefore, in response to this deliberate provocation by the SAA board and executive management, NUMSA is in the process of consulting workers for a secondary strike in aviation. We have begun consultations on this process in the various entities:
- Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Mango airlines; SAfair; SA Express; Airports Company South Africa (ACSA); Reshebile security, Morena cleaning, Vizini, (maintenance company), Azda, Swissport, Bidair services and Comair. We are also consulting Airline catering companies such as Airchefs, Food Direction, LSG SkyChefs, and Dnata.
This is a fight for survival for all workers in aviation. We are fighting against retrenchment, corruption and privatization. We call on all our members in these companies to join in solidarity because the changes at SAA, will be affecting them too. The airline can and must be saved, in order to preserve jobs along the value chain. SAA Group provides a number of services to various airlines. Some of these services include technical and maintenance support, airline catering, cargo and other related services. If the airline is privatized, then all workers, in all of these companies will also be affected in one way or another. We will not allow this corrupt board and senior executive management to destroy the airline through corrupt contracts. This secondary strike will have the impact of shutting down the entire aviation sector because it is clear that government as the shareholder would rather sacrifice workers, than deal with corruption at State Owned Entities and SAA in particular.
This is a vicious attack on the working class by the neo-liberal capitalist government of the ANC, and it requires the working class to respond. All of these SOE’s can be saved because they are strategic entities which employ thousands of people. It is only because of deliberate mismanagement that they have been brought to the brink of collapse.
We also condemn with the contempt it deserves the statement by SAA board chairperson Thandeka Mgoduso. She’s proven herself to be corrupt with the dodgy tender which was given to 21st Century, which she was instrumental in negotiating. The tender did not go through proper procurement processes, and, it is another of example of wasteful expenditure. Mgoduso, and the rest of the board are only interested in lining their pockets at the expense of the airline. The demand for insourcing which is part of the reason we are on strike, is to guarantee that the airline survives. Mgoduso, and the board have been parasites, sucking the lifeblood of the airline by approving dodgy, inflated contracts. There are many areas where SAA can save millions per annum on services, but it’s being looted from within by Mgoduso and her cronies on the board. She has the audacity to say that workers are responsible for the collapse of SAA. Workers did not take the reckless decision to cancel flights for three days, at a cost of R52 million per day to the airline, that decision was taken by her and her corrupt cronies. If they were honest, there would be no debate regarding insourcing, because this has been part of SAA’s turnaround since 2015. It is outrageous that this board has brought the airline to the brink of collapse, twice in 4 years, and this is why we repeat the demand for them all to be fired!
Mgoduso and her cronies have bloated the wage bill by creating managerial positions at SAAT which did not originally exist in the company structure. That is why we have filed an application at the South Gauteng High court for her and the entire SAA Technical board to be declared delinquent. We further condemn the employment of foreign nationals to key strategic positions, and the General Managers which they are bringing in from other countries. South Africa is not lacking in skills. This is why the wage bill is so high. We will not accept retrenchments, until the looting of SAA is thoroughly dealt with first and we will fight with all our might to prevent this. SAA has no faith in Black talent. All they care about is bringing in costly foreigners to run the airline.
SA EXPRESS
NUMSA and SACCA jointly condemn the management of SA Express for retrenching 124 workers at the airline in September this year. SA Express is also poorly managed, and riddled with corruption. This retrenchment is to cover for the failures of executive management to clean up the airline. Malola Phiri who is currently General Manager at SA Express has been implicated in corruption in the sale of Ground Power Units at SAA Technical, when he was the Acting CEO of SAAT at that time. He has not been held accountable for the corruption, and is now running SA Express. This is how SAA deals with corruption. It recycles those who have been accused of looting and employs them in different divisions in the company. We condemn this with the contempt it deserves!
There is no consequence management for mismanagement or corruption. Others who have been implicated in corruption also include Koekie Mbeki, legal advisor to SAAT who is responsible for corrupt contracts. She continues to advise wrongly over these corrupt contracts and is named in the Open Water forensic reports. The board of SAA Technical misled NUMSA by claiming she resigned, and they claimed they would recoup monies from her. But we have since discovered that Mbeki resigned at SAAT only to be appointed by SAA Legal. This is the kind of corruption which Thandeka Mgoduso is trying to defend at SAA and SAA Technical where she presides as board member.
On Friday 15th November SA Express opportunistically issued another notice for retrenchment. This is why we are consulting workers regarding a secondary strike action at this airline as well. At the time of retrenchment in September, management claimed that they would take steps to cut costs. It promised to increase the fleet from 8-14 in order to increase revenue. But instead, they have reduced the fleet to 7 aircraft and this has not helped to increase revenue. This clearly shows the inefficiency of executive management.
WE WELCOME SUPPORT FROM POLITICAL PARTIES
We welcome the support we have received from political parties the SRWP, EFF and the Land Party who have participated in pickets with our members during this strike. We call on all members of the working class, all federations, SAFTU and COSATU, as well as all community members to unite and to join us in defending SOE’s. We urge members of SATAWU and NTM to join this protected strike. Ultimately, what happens at SAA affects all of us. There is no point in signing a wage agreement when we cannot secure the funding for it. It is crucial for us to hold senior executive management to account and force them to deal, once and for all with all the corruption and looting which has been taking place at the airline.
We are calling on the minister of Public Enterprises and the minister of Finance to intervene. This secondary strike will have a detrimental impact on the economy and we call on them to act in the interests of all of us, instead of only serving the interests of White Monopoly Capital. ACSA and CAA will suffer if this strike continues, and it will have an impact on tourism. We do not have any other choice, as members of the working class, we have been forced into taking this drastic course of action in order to force change at SAA. We will not allow them to deliberately collapse the airline in order to protect corruption.
SAA is preparing to restore all international and domestic flights tomorrow. We are warning passengers not to fly SAA because their safety cannot be guaranteed. Our members who are safety officers and technicians are on strike. Learners with no flight experience, and temporary technicians are being deployed to fly on SAA aircrafts and act as safety officers. The temporary technicians with no work experience, are being used to work on aircraft without having the relevant experience in maintenance and repairs. Some are on two week contracts. We are warning the public that if they fly SAA during this strike, they are putting their lives at risk. We ask the CAA how they can allow such a situation to exist, by placing the lives of the public at risk?
It is clear that the corrupt board and executive management are hell bent on destroying this airline. It is up to us as the working class to do all we can to save the airline, save jobs and make SAA profitable once again.
Aluta continua!
The struggle continues!
Issued by Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, NUMSA National Spokesperson, 17 November 2019
