Public Enterprises: Paying SAA workers 8 months’ salaries ‘cannot be justified’
The Department of Public Enterprise has defended the decision to offer three months of wages to South African (SAA) employees who haven’t been paid since March.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA) had expected members to be paid in full, in line with South Africa’s legal framework for a business rescue process.
Employees at the cash strapped airline, which has been in business rescue since last December, believe there is enough money to pay the salaries in full.
But the department’s director-general Kgothatso Tlhakudi says government cannot justify pay workers eight months’ worth of salaries.
“The eight months cannot be justified on the basis that this airline for the better part eight months was not operating and it was not generating any form of revenues.
“The department in arriving at what will be equitable and fair to the employees had to take into account for the fact that on exiting the business by employees it will take some time to secure their next job or next economic opportunities.
“The voluntary severance packages that we have put together were very generous in this regard and therefore, it will really be wasteful to pay those eight months of salaries where people did not work for those eight months.”
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