Sumaya Hisham/Reuters
Two South African unions on Friday rejected job cuts proposed to rescue South African Airways, which has cost the government more than R17-billion to stave off bankruptcy and will cost it about half that again to reform.
Unions had been in discussions with them and had previously accepted that some job cuts would be necessary.
These workers cannot be sacrificial lambs and we cannot allow for a situation where they must pay for this crisis
But The National Union of Metalworkers of South African (Numsa) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca), angered by what they said was mismanagement of SAA by executives, on Friday rejected staff severance packages as too small and job cuts as too wide-ranging.
Numsa is one of the biggest unions in South Africa, a country in which trade unions wield sizeable political power since the national umbrella union is an alliance partner of the ruling party.
“These workers cannot be sacrificial lambs and we cannot allow for a situation where they must pay for this crisis,” the two unions said in a statement.
