UASA supports the actions taken by SAA acting CEO Nico Bezuidenhout to improve the situation of the airline thus far, and will continue to do so, for as long as we can be convinced that his strategies are aimed at maintaining and improving safety and service levels as well as the overall sustainability and viability of the airline.

UASA recently received communication from Bezuidenhout that the airline’s 90-Day Action Plan has placed it in a better position to drive further achievement.

Although the history of the airline is fraught with numerous restructuring exercises, we are hopeful that this one will be different and successful, says Willie van Eeden, UASA sector manager responsible for members in the Aerospace sector.

UASA also received notification from the SAA HR department that it is still busy with its Potential Headcount Rationalisation process. According to the notification, the department is working on its analysis to optimise business structures to achieve efficiencies and that a formal notice in terms of section 189(3) of the Labour Relations Act will be served on UASA within the next 14 days.

UASA’s position on the issue of restructuring is very clear, says van Eeden.

“We will thoroughly interrogate the notice in respect of the company’s reasons for the contemplated restructuring, the selection criteria that they will seek to apply to identify redundancies, etc.

“It is our contention that our lower graded members cannot be held accountable for poor decision-making by the respective governance levels in the airline, which caused it to be in the persistent bad shape it has been before the 90-day turn-around strategy.

“As a consequence we will make strong representations that restructuring should start at the top and that the selection criteria should be aimed at retaining the best competency fit employees.

“We will of course also, should it become necessary, make representations in respect of mitigating the negative effects of redundancies,” concludes van Eeden.

Issued by UASA