Gunship
27th Jul 2005, 07:22
SAA pilots will decide on Wednesday whether to join the chaotic and costly strike by 5 000 ground and cabin staff.
The striking transport unions Satawu en Uasa were still in talks with SAA late on Tuesday night to resolve the wage issue that has cost SAA an estimated R150m since the strike started on Friday.
According to unconfirmed rumours staff at SAA's technical division also want to join the strike.
By Tuesday up to 600 flights have already been cancelled and according to a source close to SAA the airline's losses for Sunday alone amounted to R35m.
SAA declined to confirm this amount, but said the losses were "considerable".
The airline's management said on Tuesday that about 75% of its flights had been cancelled since about 5 000 members of the South African Transport Workers' Union (Satawu) and the United Association of South Africa (Uasa) began striking on Friday.
SAA operates an average of about 170 flights daily, meaning that up to 120 have been disrupted every day.
But about 65% of the passengers on these flights were accommodated by other airlines, said SAA.
Two senior commissioners of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) have until late on Tuesday night been in talks with SAA management and the unions to help resolve the issue.
A Uasa spokesperson told Beeld, sister publication of Finance24, on Tuesday night that SAA "didn't move an inch" from its revised 5% wage offer.
SAA revised its offer from 5% to 5% plus better medical and housing benefits and a once-off bonus of R1 000. The trade unions want 8%.
Gerhard Ueckermann of Uasa said they were prepared to talk through the night to reach a settlement.
Capt Piet Taljaard, chairperson of the SAA Pilot Association (Saapa), said a special meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday to decide if the pilots will join the strike. Their dispute with SAA includes "mismanagement".
A middle-management member at the airline said in the last six days SAA had to pay for more than 1 000 hotelbeds a night to accommodate stranded passengers. There were also ''many problems with lost luggage''.
SAA paid in ''certain cases'' for food, a bed in a hotel and a ''phone call of three minutes''.
In spite of ''rescue flights'' to Europe and the US, thousands of passengers were still stranded on Tuesday and other airlines were struggling to add extra flights on the route between South Africa and London.
South Africans abroad swamped Virgin Atlantic on Tuesday and begged: ''Get us home!'' a spokesperson said.
''But all our flights are fully booked until the weekend. We help where we can.''
An additional flight by the Australia's Qantas would have left Johannesburg on Tuesday and landed in Sydney on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, chief of SA Tourism Moeketsi Mosala, said the strike had to be ended ''urgently''. It could harm tourism ''and the country as a whole''.
Head of travel association Asata, Vanya Lessing, also said though she reckoned the impact on tourism would be "short-lived", it was "sharp and painful".
"Strikes like these happen everywhere in the world."
The striking transport unions Satawu en Uasa were still in talks with SAA late on Tuesday night to resolve the wage issue that has cost SAA an estimated R150m since the strike started on Friday.
According to unconfirmed rumours staff at SAA's technical division also want to join the strike.
By Tuesday up to 600 flights have already been cancelled and according to a source close to SAA the airline's losses for Sunday alone amounted to R35m.
SAA declined to confirm this amount, but said the losses were "considerable".
The airline's management said on Tuesday that about 75% of its flights had been cancelled since about 5 000 members of the South African Transport Workers' Union (Satawu) and the United Association of South Africa (Uasa) began striking on Friday.
SAA operates an average of about 170 flights daily, meaning that up to 120 have been disrupted every day.
But about 65% of the passengers on these flights were accommodated by other airlines, said SAA.
Two senior commissioners of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) have until late on Tuesday night been in talks with SAA management and the unions to help resolve the issue.
A Uasa spokesperson told Beeld, sister publication of Finance24, on Tuesday night that SAA "didn't move an inch" from its revised 5% wage offer.
SAA revised its offer from 5% to 5% plus better medical and housing benefits and a once-off bonus of R1 000. The trade unions want 8%.
Gerhard Ueckermann of Uasa said they were prepared to talk through the night to reach a settlement.
Capt Piet Taljaard, chairperson of the SAA Pilot Association (Saapa), said a special meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday to decide if the pilots will join the strike. Their dispute with SAA includes "mismanagement".
A middle-management member at the airline said in the last six days SAA had to pay for more than 1 000 hotelbeds a night to accommodate stranded passengers. There were also ''many problems with lost luggage''.
SAA paid in ''certain cases'' for food, a bed in a hotel and a ''phone call of three minutes''.
In spite of ''rescue flights'' to Europe and the US, thousands of passengers were still stranded on Tuesday and other airlines were struggling to add extra flights on the route between South Africa and London.
South Africans abroad swamped Virgin Atlantic on Tuesday and begged: ''Get us home!'' a spokesperson said.
''But all our flights are fully booked until the weekend. We help where we can.''
An additional flight by the Australia's Qantas would have left Johannesburg on Tuesday and landed in Sydney on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, chief of SA Tourism Moeketsi Mosala, said the strike had to be ended ''urgently''. It could harm tourism ''and the country as a whole''.
Head of travel association Asata, Vanya Lessing, also said though she reckoned the impact on tourism would be "short-lived", it was "sharp and painful".
"Strikes like these happen everywhere in the world."