SAA, unions meet for talks amid damaging strike

SAA workers and union members sing and dance during a picket protest outside the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, on November 15, 2019. Picture: MICHELE SPATARI / AFP

Unions representing more than half of SAA's workforce called the strike from Friday, forcing SAA to cancel hundreds of flights, and said it would continue until their demands were met.The talks will be mediated by dispute resolution body The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration . The unions' demands include an 8% wage increase, and they also object to SAA's plan to cut over 900 jobs.

Phakamile Hlubi Majola, spokeswoman for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa , one of the unions that called the strike, said they also want SAA to commit to bringing costly outsourced services back in house, which are blowing a substantial hole in SAA's budget. SAA's woes have left it reliant on state bailouts to survive, becoming a source of frustration for taxpayers who have forked out more than R30bn since 2012 as well as for a cash-strapped government already propping up other ailing state firms.

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