Cancellation of domestic SAA flights extended until Monday
The airline’s spokesperson says a revenue loss of R52 million a day is predicted due to the ongoing strike.
South African Airways (SAA) spokesperson Tlali Tlali addressed the media at OR Tambo airport on Friday afternoon on the latest developments regarding the ongoing strike which sees employees picketing over wages and possible job losses.
According to Tlali, the airline is not able to offer other than the 5.9% wage increase, which workers and unions have already rejected. They want an 8% wage increase in December.
“The deadlock is still there. The unions are still sticking to their guns. We are continuing to call on unions to approach the situation with open minds,” he said.
“We must all understand how serious this is. We are exposing ourselves to [a] revenue loss of R52 million a day. If this continues, there will be no winners.
“We want to channel our energies and focus on getting labour to work with us to find a working solution.”
According to Tlali, international SAA flights will resume as of Sunday, while the cancellation of domestic flights will be extended until at least Monday.
Striking workers were joined by members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on Friday.
The action began after the South African Airways Cabin Crew Association (SACAA) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) served the airline with a strike notice for Friday.
Attempts by SAA to negotiate alternatives to the strike failed.
The unions claim that 3,000 of their members will be participating, in the strike which was expected to start at 4 am on Friday morning. Cabin crew, check-in staff, and technical staff will be involved, reported Fin24.
Hundreds of flights have been grounded due to the strike, which has reportedly left some travel-goers stranded.
SAA has 5,146 employees and earlier this week announced plans to retrench up to a fifth of their workers as it battles massive losses, which have piled up to R28 billion.
The unions are protesting the planned retrenchments and unmet wage hike demands, while SAA’s acting CEO Zuks Ramasia has warned that the airline, which is technically insolvent, may not be able to recover from the strike.
The company has reportedly asked travelers who had flights booked between Friday and Saturday not to turn up at airports and offered them a chance to rebook for free or to fly on other flights operated by partner airlines.
In other news – Jub Jub & Kelly Khumalo’s son knows the Uncles who killed Senzo Meyiwa – Kelly Khumalo confesses
Singer, Kelly Khumalo, has piqued the suspicion of social media users after a contradictory interview claiming that her son she sired with Jub Jub knows and even identifies on television the ‘uncles’ [supposedly relatives or close family friends] who killed Senzo Meyiwa.
Kelly Khumalo’s six-month-old interview with eNCA trended on social media on Tuesday, 12 November 2019, and has since gone viral. In the interview with television host, Ayanda Allie Paine, Kelly claims that her son recognized the “uncles” that killed his father on television. However, in the same interview, she claims she still hasn’t told her son that the former national goalkeeper has passed on. continue reading
Source: The Citizen
