Two trade unions demand that SAA business rescue respects workers’ rights

Two trade unions – the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) – have jointly accused the Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) currently overseeing the business rescue process for State-owned South African Airways (SAA) of violating the rights of their members working at the airline. They have, as a consequence, jointly written a letter to the BRPs, they reported in a statement they issued on Tuesday.

In this letter the two unions have warned the SAA BRPs that if they fail to reply to their demands, also by Tuesday, the unions would “have no choice” but to go to the High Court to obtain an interdict against the BRPs. This interdict would be to prevent them from publishing their business rescue plan (which has to be released by March 6).

The unions pointed out that, under Section 144 (2) of the Companies Act, SAA employees are considered preferred unsecured creditors of the airline. As such, they have certain rights, which, they affirmed, the BRPs had violated.