South African Airways (SAA) has threatened to take legal action against those employees who have been on strike since last week, reported Reuters.
SAA had to cancel hundreds of flights due to the strike. The airline claims that the stoppage is costing 50 million rand ($3.36 million) per day and affecting the talks with lenders for much-needed funding for its survival.
On Friday, thousands of SAA employees began an indefinite strike primarily to protest mass retrenchments. The employees are demanding better pay. SAA is offering a 5.9% wage increase, but, the employees want an 8% wage increase. They have also rejected SAA’s plans to fire more than 900 jobs.
The negotiation talks are being mediated by dispute resolution body The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). The carrier and unions representing over half of SAA’s workforce held negotiations on Saturday that ended without an agreement.
The unions leading the strike claimed that the national carrier had brought in inexperienced staff to run operations during the strike.
SAA CEO Zukisa Ramasia said the claims made by the trade unions were untrue. He called on the unions to retract statements made with regards to SAA’s safety, saying that otherwise, the airline would consider taking legal action.
“It’s important that they retract this,” Ramasia said. “We cannot put our long-established reputation at risk. We care about safety and nobody will make us waver from this.”
He confirmed that there were now fears of a secondary strike.
“A secondary strike will affect the competitivity of the South African economy as a whole,” the SAA CEO said adding, “It will ground aviation and bring it to a halt.”
SAA, which has not made a profit since 2011, is heavily reliant on state bailouts to survive.
