The General Industrial Workers Union of SA (Giwusa) has called for the strike-breaking “emergency agreement” between state-owned airline SAA and local and regional carrier FlySafair cancelled and its details made public. That came as FlySafair pilots continued their strike for above-inflation wage increases.
FlySafair chief marketing officer Kirby Gordon said the flights were operating as scheduled as the majority of their pilots were actively at work “demonstrating their continued commitment to maintaining the airline’s world-class standards”.
He said two of the “approximately 120 daily flights operated by the airline will be conducted under a passenger protection agreement with SAA”.
“Our focus remains on supporting our customers and restoring full operations as quickly as possible. We are immensely grateful to our teams across the business who are going above and beyond to keep our operations running smoothly under challenging circumstances.”
However, Giwusa president Mametlwe Sebei condemned the deployment of SAA resources to “undermine” the wage strike by FlySafair pilots.
“SAA’s operation of FlySafair routes and accommodation of its passengers constitutes state-subsidised scabbing and another fundamental betrayal of the working class by the ANC,” Sebei said.
“This intervention, cynically framed as an ‘emergency agreement’, is a blatant attempt to break the legitimate industrial action by more than 200 pilots organised by Solidarity and sets a dangerous precedent organised labour should not ignore or underestimate.”
He called on SAA to cease all operations supporting FlySafair immediately, saying public assets could not be tools for breaking “legal strikes”, and the terms of the “emergency agreement” must be made public, among others.
SAA has been approached for comment, which will be added once received.
In the latest update, Gordon said FlySafair flights scheduled for Wednesday were operating as planned despite the strike.
“The airline continues to operate a reduced but stable schedule, which was proactively implemented last week. Customers affected by any time changes were notified well in advance via SMS and email using the contact details provided at the time of booking,” he said.
“On Tuesday, the airline operated 95.2% of its reduced schedule on time, an achievement that reflects the resilience and dedication of FlySafair’s operational teams, who continue to work tirelessly to maintain service stability.
This is as parties are set to meet for a mediation process under the auspices of the CCMA on Wednesday afternoon, to try to break the wage deadlock.
Wage talks deadlocked after three months of negotiations. Solidarity is demanding a three-year wage deal with front-loaded salary adjustments, 10.5% in the first year and CPI plus 4% annually thereafter. The airline has tabled a counter-offer of a 5.7% increase in the first year, followed by CPI plus 1.5% in the second and third years.
SA’s inflation rate is hovering at 3%, underscoring the mismatch between pilot wage expectations and the broader economic environment in which FlySafair operates.
Gordon has said the pilots’ wage demands were unsustainable as FlySafair pilots were among the best compensated professionals in the country, with captains earning R1.8m-R2.3m annually, “placing them well within the top 1% of earners in SA. Many pilots earn more than members of FlySafair’s executive committee”.
FlySafair, which accounts for 60% of domestic seat capacity, has said less than half of the airline’s 310 pilots were on strike, resulting in the cancellation of about 26 flights out of 174 on Monday.
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