Staff Reporter.
Photo Credit: Gallo Images.
Numsa and Sacca’s urgent Labour Court application against South African Airways has been dismissed.
Unions asked the court to find SAA BRPs decision to pay workers 3 months back pay, as opposed to 8 months, unlawful.
The Labour Court said the legality of business rescue practitioners’ actions in this case is outside of its jurisdiction.
The airline has been in business rescue since December 2019 and has not been operating since April. Prior to the signing of the settlement agreement, workers at the airline had been without pay since April last year, barring UIF Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) payments.
The two unions also approached the court to compel the SAA rescue practitioners, Siviwe Dongwnana and Les Matuson and the DPE to pay their members a lump sum comprising an agreed-to 5.9% increase backdated to April 2020, as well as an equivalent pro-rata contribution towards a 13th cheque.
In December, more than 81% of SAA employees, including some Numsa and Sacca members, signed the settlement agreement with the airline after R3.5 billion of the required R10.5 billion was made available to the rescue practitioners.
The parties that accepted the deal in December include the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu), the National Transport Movement (NTM), Solidarity and the Aviation Union of SA, as well as three SAA worker formations (covering non-unionised management and non-management as well as wider management).
Instead, the settlement offer was made to unions by the government in a bid to reduce its liabilities, which was agreed to by the rescue practitioners.