SAA Technical, the repair and maintenance unit of the grounded national carrier, is set to retrench at least 60% of its 2,000 employees.
Trade union Solidarity, a major union at the company, said it had received retrenchment notices inviting parties to consult on possible redundancies.
“We can confirm that the CCMA [Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration] has be requested to facilitate the talks between workers and the company,” the union’s organiser, Derek Mans, told Business Day on Wednesday.
The maintenance, repair and overhaul firm took a knock during Covid-19 as airlines could not fly under the strict lockdown, throttling cash flow and forcing it to cut staff pay by 25% in September.
Department of public enterprises spokesperson Richard Mantu previously said SAA’s subsidiaries including Mango and SAA Technical were expecting funds from the government as part of the R10.5bn allocation made to the airline in October’s medium-term budget policy statement.
However, for them to get the funding a special appropriation bill would have to be passed by parliament.
“Once the bill is enacted into law the funds will be transferred to the subsidiaries,” Mantu said.
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