The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) is heading to the labour court to interdict SAA from retrenching almost 1,000 employees.

Image: The Times / Alon Skuy
SAA announced its intention to retrench 945 workers on Monday.
The announcement, according to Satawu, did not reach unions via the airline.
“Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) is very clear that all unions representing workers in the company should be consulted and so should unorganised employees. Therefore, by not consulting the unions, SAA is in breach of the act,” said Satawu spokesperson Zanele Sabela.
She said Satawu viewed SAA’s failure to consult as “union-bashing of the worst kind” – and a misdirected strategy to influence the outcome of the ongoing wage negotiations.
“Satawu … holds a majority within SAA subsidiary SAA Technical. Wage negotiations at SAAT deadlocked when management put a zero percent wage offer on the table. On Tuesday, wage talks continued at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).