By RFIPosted on 17-11-2019Modified on 17-11-2019 at 18:25
The airline South African Airways (SAA) had planned to resume its international flights Sunday and domestic routes Tuesday. The management of the public company had canceled more than 300 flights that were scheduled Saturday and Friday, following a strike of 60% of employees. The talks started Saturday between management and unions have given nothing and the call of the main South African union to expand the movement to the entire air sector may still hurt the public company.
The ongoing strike at South African Airways will affect a company already in great financial difficulty . The continuation of the movement could even be fatal because, according to a group leader, the company would lose more than 3 million euros per day, due to cancellations flights .
Management and unions met Saturday around a table but they did not reach an agreement. The company's leaders plan a new meeting to continue negotiations.
For the moment, the unions are asking for a salary increase of 8% and management is proposing an increase of 5.9%. In addition, staff representatives are asking for a three-year guarantee of employment for all employees, thus rejecting the restructuring plan.
Announced a week ago, this plan to restructure the company provides for the removal of one in five jobs and aims to restore the accounts of one of the major African carriers that survives thanks to state subsidies but has struggling to compete, especially from Ethiopian Airlines.
Already, the first South African trade union Numsa has called this Sunday to extend the strike triggered by employees of the airline SAA to the entire airline sector of the country.
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