Unions warn SAA passengers: ‘Your safety cannot be guaranteed’
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA) have issued a stern warning to commuters to avoid flying with South African Airways (SAA).
Earlier SAA vowed to resume all intentional flights on Sunday, while regional and domestic flights would remain grounded.
Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says the safety of passengers cannot be guaranteed should SAA persist with plans to resume flights.
"SAA is preparing to restore all international and domestic flights tomorrow. We are warning passengers not to fly SAA because their safety cannot be guaranteed."
Hlubi-Majola adds that SAA is placing the lives of its passengers at risk by allowing inexperienced technicians to work on the planes.
"Our members who are safety officers and technicians are on strike. Learners with no flight experience and temporary technicians are being deployed to fly on SAA aircraft," says Hlubi-Majola.
More than 3,000 workers - including cabin crew, technical and ground staff - started striking on Friday to demand higher pay and to protest against restructuring plans involving heavy job losses.
The walkout forced South Africa's cash-strapped flag carrier to cancel more than 300 domestic and regional flights between Friday and Monday.
Unions first threatened to strike after SAA announced this week that almost 1,000 employees could lose their jobs as part of a restructuring process.
Talks with management deadlocked after they failed to agree on wage hikes, prompting unions to press on with their threats.
Numsa is also demanding an urgent meeting with the ministers of Finance and Public Enterprises in a bid to fix problems at the airline.
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