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Strike is ON ..
A strike by about 300 staff and cabin crew at Nationwide airline is set to start at 17:00 on Friday, trade union Solidarity and the airline said. "At this stage we're assuming that it will go ahead. "There shouldn't be any disruption at all. Unlike the SAA strike we're able to do things differently," said Nationwide's financial director, Peter Griffiths, adding that passengers could be accommodated on other flights. He said the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) had been approached to resolve the dispute, scheduled to end at 17:00 on Sunday. "I was told that the CCMA could only meet with us on Monday, but that just doesn't make sense, to go through the strike and then mediate." Griffiths said that of the more than 1 000 staff at the airline, around 250 were Solidarity members. It had 17 aircraft on domestic flights and one long-haul aircraft. Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans said the strike would "definitely" go ahead and affect the "vast majority" of domestic flights as its members made up 90% of cabin crew. He put the number of union members at Nationwide at 320. Kleynhans said cabin crew received starting salaries of R2 900 a month. "We are absolutely willing to negotiate. We've asked the CCMA to mediate, but haven't received an answer." The union was demanding a five percent salary increase plus another three percent increase in pension fund contributions. Nationwide is offering a four percent salary increase. Another motivation for CCMA intervention was Nationwide's refusal to disclose its financial results. "If Nationwide's statements show that the company cannot afford our eight percent demand, we would be quite prepared to reconsider the demand," Kleynhans said. Griffiths said the company had told Solidarity it was welcome to see its accounts - after signing a non-disclosure agreement - but that the trade union had never taken it up on its offer. Solidarity later demanded to see the books for every company in the group. "It's nonsense to ask for books not related to the airline," said Griffiths. Passengers who need to confirm their bookings should call the Nationwide Airlines customer care centre on 0861 737 737. |
This made for interesting reading:
"There shouldn't be any disruption at all. Unlike the SAA strike we're able to do things differently," said Nationwide's financial director, Peter Griffiths, adding that passengers could be accommodated on other flights. Now one of the key features of the SAA strike was the participation of the cabin crew- if they strike then there will be no other CE flights to accomodate passengers on. I know how it will be different- when SAA approached Nationwide during their strike to accept SAA passnegers Nationwide initially refused and only relented when the matter was resolved at the highest levels within both carriers- all the while the passengers just stood around and waited. Im sure SAA will glady welcome all Nationwide customers without any worries- they are looking for ways to find a spare 500 mil! Although I think Mr Griffiths is going to find it a big ask to reaccomodate any passengers over this weekend the 2 peak travel days domestically are Friday and Sunday so all the other carriers will most lightly be full. |
Just heard on the news that NTW has indeed begun striking, but it will not affect anyone. Okay, whatever..
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:hmm: :hmm: ...lets see now.........No cancelled flights......no screaming pax........accepting pax from other carriers because they could not get onto flights they had booked......extra flight put on due to full flights (and all flights full)..........yup this strike really hurt CE did it not ???????:E
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Yup
And the only people being screwed are the poor cabin crew who are simply asking for a decent increase. VB if you ever browse at PPRUNE, please explain how you sleep at night, your cabin crew are the reason your Airline is still going, they are the reason your customers keep on coming back, and yet they are the lowest paid in the industry, you must be very proud of yourself. |
:hmm: ....fluffy did you actually read the post by VTS ?????
There have been no cancelled flights, I have been told that more than 100% of the cabin crew reported for duty (they had to ask some to go home)....I have also been told that the total sum of employees that have been on strike since yesterday has been 20...all the flights are fully booked and as per VTS's post CE actually put on an extra flight........so in fact this strike has been a bit of a damp squid.....egg in the face of the union..!!!!! I say good on the staff and employees for not giving into the union...seems all unions want to do is cause all sorts of s:mad: t and try and destroy an already fragile industry.....:mad: Ok..ok...no more handbags....;) Despite the salaries etc....it seems that CE has once again shown the guts and determination in the face of a 'union' organised strike...(and I use the word union very loosely when it comes to Solidarity)....that has made it what it is today.....a good airline !!!!! Yes I may be biased but in any industry, despite whatever management does or offers and despite economic conditions, unions will always try and rip an ostrich out of a chickens backside !!!!!!......I dont like unions :mad: |
Interesting
Nationwide has put out a Temporary Safety Bullutin, valid from 23 September 2005 to mid-October 2005, allowing the B737-200 to operate with 3 cabin crew only, and the 727-200 to operate with 4 cabin crew. Why don't they always fly like that? Excellent way to reduce the staff salary bill! And suppose flight deck crew goes on strike, guess only one pilot and servicable auto-pilot required?!?!
If the rumour is true, and other airlines cabin crew have been asked to fly for NTW, shame on them, would love to know how much they been paid to fly? |
Not a good strike if there was no disruption ... so what was the idea of the strike ? Just to make it known to the public ?
A strike at Nationwide airlines was receiving little support on Saturday, the company's financial director said. The trade union Solidarity had said its about 320 members would go on strike from Friday afternoon. The airline employs about a thousand staff. "All of our crew have turned up for work. All the back-up staff that we had ready we've sent home," said Peter Griffiths. Flights were not delayed, all were full and four extra trips to Lilongwe, Malawi had been added. "I think the employees are finally realising that the union (Solidarity) has not been telling them the truth," he added. Discussion Forums | |
:rolleyes:......Ok so here is the information I have on this "strike".....At JIA there were no employees who went on strike in fact throughout the whole country only 9 employees actually went on strike. The back-up crew and staff were not needed because on the days that they were rostered all the staff reported so some were asked to go home. All the flights were full, contrary to what the F :mad: K from solidarity claims, there were no disruptions and basically business was as usual.
I have been told that on Friday evening the solidarity spokesman was parked across the road from the Nationwide Ops centre....sitting there like a miserable little old man....chain smoking and waiting to see if his call for strike action actually happened.....:yuk: From the report on the news on E-TV last night, he looks like your typical person who could not c ut it in the real world so became involved with the union.....:} .....oh yes he does not even know how many members he has at NW.....He claims 350 but in actual fact there are only 220 members......:E Oh yes WildFrequency.....you say 'shame' on the 'other cabin crews' who offered to fly and help out NW.........so then it must be shame on NW who carried the stranded SAA pax during the SAA strike and also shame on NW for being the only airline from SA to send a plane to fetch the South African tsunami survivors ?????........Shame on you :mad: |
Well, strike or no strike: The fact remains that Nwide Cabin Crew do a great job and get paid dirt. I would love to see them get the increase. And them showing up anyway should be further reason for a bit of downwards loyalty.
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Loyalty deserves respect from management
I agree Shrike200, I take my hat off to the staff of Nationwide, being the worst paid in the industry, still arriving for work, even if a strike was asked for.
In a country with a culture that a strike, mass action and unions will resolve any disputes, staff still diligently arriving and doing their jobs, that in itself says a lot about the loyalty of the staff towards the company and in my book deserves a positive increase in salary. I give you my laugh of approval Nationwide staff, good luck with the negotiations. It's LOVELY to see the "union" get one up the bum!! hehehehe :p |
Is it loyalty?
Or fear of loosing your job? The only ones getting a decent wage at CE is management. I am not a huge union fan but they are necessary especially these days, the problem is that the employees need to stand together to make industrial action work, if they dont..........well nobody to blame but themselves and then they must not complain about about low salaries and long work hours |
Have to agree with Fluffy. Complaining about the conditions while doing nothing to change the situation doesn't wash.
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Afternoon all,
I feel sufficiantly bored to chime in with my two cents, not that it matters..... My first reaction to any strike is generally to be anti-union. To be honest most of them simply do not have a clue how to run a business hence they're trade unionists. Mostly these days a bitter, cynical and miserable lot. HOWEVER, VB needs to realise that the success of his business is largely due to the dedicated front line staff of NW. Particularly, cabin crew, check-in staff and pilots. My experiences on NW have been excellent - pretty much like everyone else here. I think VB is the beneficiary of the Affirmative Action recruitment policies of SAA, as in a sense even though these front line staff obvioulsy love their jobs, the career development road (to SAA - the high pay airline) is basically limited. Although I have never personally met VB I know plenty that have dealt with him, the adjectives mean and ruthless spring to mind. Not wanting to distract from the massive achievement of running an airline successfully through some very turbulent times, it is still not the way to treat people - period. |
"VB" or NELSON as he is know among the employees, he flies around and ****s on everyone.
A breakdown of salaries: Baggage handler - R1500.00 Driver - R2200.00 Aircraft Co ordinator - R3500.00 Ops Clerk - R4500.00 This is some of the salaries i knew when i worked there. The reason why he does not pay more is he can save on salaries by having a big staff turnover. These employees also has to deal with a lot of crap everyday. You will get a disiplinary hearing if you speak Afrikaans or any other lingo except english on the radio. If the baggage is late its your fault etc. I really hope that these guys will get something going for their strike. |
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