Three unions representing employees of financially embattled State-owned national flag carrier South African Airways (SAA) have attacked the airline’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs) and its senior management. They are the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), the SAA Pilot’s Association (SAAPA) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA). These three unions report that, between them, they represent more than 60% of the airline’s employees.

They highlighted that, around the world, in an industry under severe pressure because of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the senior executives of many airlines had taken pay cuts, in some cases by as much as 100%, to help try save their companies. “Yet here, by contrast, SAA’s executive and senior management – some of the highest paid airline executives in the country – have not offered to cut their salaries by one cent and still remain on full pay,” charged the three unions.

They highlighted that their members had volunteered to accept pay cuts averaging 49% for  two months, which would have saved the airline R82-million, to help with its business rescue. (SAAPA’s members, who were paid more, volunteered to take bigger salary cuts than the less well paid SACCA and Numsa members.)

“However, inexplicably, the Business Rescue Practitioners have rejected our offer of a salary cut and, in doing so, have reneged on their previous commitment to accept it,” said the unions. “We have completely lost faith in the Business Rescue Practitioners. It is self-evident that they never intended to rescue SAA and, as such, six months later, there is no business rescue plan. Instead, they unfairly attempted to dismiss all employees and wind-down SAA which amounts to no more than asset stripping.”

Numsa, SAAPA and SACCA affirmed that they were committed to working with the government to rescue SAA, and were willing to make sacrifices to do so. They and the Department of Public Enterprises had together developed a strategic plan for a new and reinvigorated national airline. They assured that this plan was fiscally prudent (bearing in mind the financial pressures on government finances created by the pandemic) and intended to ensure that the future SAA be commercially viable and not need any taxpayer funding.

“We have noted with dismay that … the Business Rescue Practitioners [on May 15] stated that their idea of a business rescue plan remains the winding down of SAA,” stated the unions. “The BRPs – with no experience in the complex and low margin airline business – have been a monumental failure. … By cutting SAA’s flights in February the BRPs crippled SAA’s revenue generating ability, whilst removing none of the overhead expenses. Since the national lockdown, the BRPs have failed to capitalise on numerous cargo flights and have allowed the SAA Cargo department to use other airlines to carry SAA air freight. All this while SAA employees, planes and infrastructure stand idle.”

The unions asserted that the BRPs, consultants and advisers had so far been paid more than R200-million in fees. They had spent R9.9-billion in six months but had failed to restore the situation at SAA. Their attempt to retrench workers had been overturned in court. The unions demanded a thorough investigation into all expenditure at SAA since the BRPs were appointed. They also demanded that the BRPs withdraw their appeal against the court ruling and reduce legal and consulting fees to a minimum. They further demanded that, if the BRPs were not willing to explicitly support the aim of a new national flag carrier, they should resign.