Number of employees affected by restructuring could change - SAA
South African Airways (SAA) says the number of employees likely to be affected by the airline's restructuring plans could change following consultations with unions.
The troubled state-owned airline on Monday announced a restructuring process that could affect 944 employees and "lead to job losses".
Speaking at the national carrier’s head offices in Kempton Park on Tuesday afternoon, Head of Human Resources Martin Kemp said they are committed to reducing the number of retrenchments.
"These are indicative numbers, it's all subject to consultation so that number can be a total different number after we've gone through the consultation process. The trade unions or employees that's going to be engaged may come up with a solution that may vary this number.
"Our aim is to minimise the retrenchments."
ALSO READ:
Ceasefire between Kieswetter, Mkhwebane over Zuma tax records
Kieswetter launched urgent legal action to block Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane from obtaining Zuma's tax information after he was accused by the Democratic Alliance (DA) in 2017 of pocketing undeclared money from a security company during his tenure as president. Last month Mkhwebane issued a subpoena to obtain the former president's tax information, with a deadline set for Wednesday.
A number of unions were up in arms about the retrenchments and threatened to down tools, including the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA).
Numsa's national spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola claims the unions only found out about the plans in the media but the airline moved to dismiss these claims.
"Organised labour claim that SAA has not engaged in a consultative process. However, this is not correct," said SAA's interim chief financial officer Deon Fredericks.
"On 11 November SAA issued a written notice to all recognised unions within SAA."
Fredericks added that threats to down tools will only further cripple the airline.
"Any interruption to our operations endanger the future of our airline, our ability to deliver our strategy and threatens not one job but every job in SA as well as the related industries."
LISTEN BELOW: