Johannesburg – SAAs’ business rescue practitioners (BRP) have welcomed the Labour Court’s dismissal of an application by the SAAPA (South African Airline Pilots Association) to have a lockout against its member declared unlawful, but the impasse between the airline company and its pilots remains.
BRP Siviwe Dongwana said Wednesday: “We welcome today’s judgment from the Labour Court dismissing the application by SAAPA to have the lock-out declared unlawful. The judgment confirms the BRP’s have complied with the Labour Relations Act in implementing the lock-out.”
SAAPA could not be reached for further comment Wednesday, but other reports said the association was reviewing the court’s decision. The BRP’s have prevented nearly 400 pilots from accessing salary cuts. SAA entered business rescue in December 2019 after many years of financial losses and its operations were grounded earlier this year through the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Department of Public Enterprises, in expressing its support of the lockout earlier this month, said the International Air Transport Association had found that SAA pilots were the second most highly paid pilots in the world, and much of the global industry had experienced salary and benefit cuts through the pandemic, so that the overall airline industry could take off again.
