SAA pilot strike will continue indefinitely

R13... said:
So, the capitalists of MyBB are now suddenly in support of these striking pilots? How commie of them.
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But of course.
noxibox said:
Unions and striking are integral parts of a genuinely free market. It's the people who hold most of the capital that hate unions, but they also hate the regulation vital to maintaining a free market.
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Exactly. That’s why all MyBB members support all unions such as COSATU, NUMSA and SAAPA for the exact reasons you mentioned. Am I right? ;)
 
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R13... said:
These pilots are currently not earning anything and are owed millions from way back. If they strike indefinitely then the airline will never get off the ground again and they'll not see a cent of their owed salaries. Unless government is obliged to settle up if the airline goes belly up.
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This is their new "zero based" economy. After dismantling the current economy we can start again from zero. Same concept applies here, call SAA Wakanda Airlines and reset all debts and then offer the pilots new jobs. What can go wrong with this great plan?
 
www.dailymaverick.co.za

Are SAA pilots really overpaid?

This past week the Department of Public Enterprise (DPE) claimed that SAA pilots are, “the second-best paid in the world.” This is an astoundingly crude lie that is evidently false for two reasons…
www.dailymaverick.co.za www.dailymaverick.co.za


How much are SAA pilots really paid?


By world standards – not much. Perhaps surprisingly, it’s the junior pilots who are well paid, while the Senior Captains (dinosaurs?) are noticeably underpaid by world standards, presumably reflecting the reality that it is difficult for a Senior Captain to uproot his life and his seniority at SAA to go and fly for a fast-growing Chinese airline. As one SAA Captain pithily remarked when he and his mates were discussing where else to go fly, “Ja– but if you go there – who you gonna drink beer with?’

Having been locked out and not paid for nine months, some SAA pilots are sufficiently disgruntled to share information regarding their pay. I have discovered that a Junior First Officer who has been with SAA for six years and is a co-pilot on the ‘baby-bus’ Airbus A319, clears a net salary of R75,000 per month. Not bad, you may think.

A Senior Captain with 26 years’ service clears R126,000 per month. This is less than many senior corporate managers, who have far less responsibility and much better working conditions. And notably, after having been with the airline four times as long as the First Officer, the Senior Captain’s pay is just 1.68 times more. Yet the burden of his responsibility as a Commander in charge of 300 lives is enormous, plus the R5-billion value of an Airbus A350.

For many these may seem like good remuneration packages. But SAA only pays R236 per month towards medical aid and the pilots need to provide their own insurance for loss of licence due to medical reasons – which costs upwards of R10,000 per month (for over 50s). And a pilot’s working life is shorter than the average business executive, as SAA pilots have to retire at 63 and so their retirement needs greater provident fund contributions.

The bottom line is that a Senior SAA Captain with children at school or university cannot afford a new car, or to take an overseas holiday without using the pilots’ rebates – which will be removed in the new deal, despite being an important part of sustaining family life for all pilots around the world.

It must also be remembered that there is very little job security. You can easily lose your licence for medical reasons. And twice a year you have to pass recurrency training flight tests. Have a bad day and fail, and you get marked down for more training. Fail after that, and you’re out.

How does this compare to other pilots’ salaries around the world?

Over the years there has been a steady outflow of SAA pilots to the Gulf-3 carriers, Emirates in particular, for the simple reason that the pay is usually 50% greater – and is tax free.

In Europe, a KLM Captain with 26 years’ service will be taking home almost €21,500 each month, and his cost of living is probably cheaper. At just R14/Euro, that’s R300,000 which is more than double the SAA Captain’s take home pay. A Senior First Officer at KLM reports that he takes home €12,000 pm – and that includes his medical insurance.

In China, large and fast-growing privately-owned airlines such as Hainan are paying around 250% of SAA pay rates.

Almost all SAA pilots are now unemployed. They have not been paid since May, and adding insult to injury, on Friday they were locked-out by the company. After twenty years’ service their typical retirement fund value is R7-million – which is good for R29,200 income per month before tax.

Already 224 SAA pilots have taken the voluntary severance package – yet have not even been paid that, and so are having to cannibalise their retirement funding just to survive. There are currently just 383 pilots left at SAA (in 2010 there were 830), of which 88 are required for the airline to restart. SAAPA says that they have already made multiple concessions. But the big sticking point that has lead to the lockdown is a power play over what SAAPA claims is the unlawful – and unconstitutional – retrenchment of pilots based on race. Quite simply – the DPE wants almost all the 88 pilots who are carried through to the new SAA to be from the previously disadvantaged ‘designated group’. What choosing pilots on the basis of race and not experience will do for fare paying passengers’ perceptions of the airline’s safety can only be guessed.
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What choosing pilots on the basis of race and not experience will do for fare paying passengers’ perceptions of the airline’s safety can only be guessed.
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The ministers who created this mess will fly SAA for perks, so let them put their money where their mouths are..
 
The_Right_Honourable_Brit said:
Pravin doing well in implying the pilots are racist. Should help matters

https://twitter.com/x/status/1381601557272223748
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Not Pravin, the DG. Background article explains some of the ridiculous benefits at SAA:
www.news24.com

Read and weep: A DG's odd fascination with old regulations, white pilots and a fantasy author | Business

An outdated collective agreement between South African Airways and its pilots has raised so many eyebrows, you would be forgiven for overlooking the odd choice of authors that director general Kgathatso Tlhakudi quoted to decry it.
www.news24.com www.news24.com
 
spiff said:
www.dailymaverick.co.za

Are SAA pilots really overpaid?

This past week the Department of Public Enterprise (DPE) claimed that SAA pilots are, “the second-best paid in the world.” This is an astoundingly crude lie that is evidently false for two reasons…
www.dailymaverick.co.za www.dailymaverick.co.za
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Their quality seems to reflect that. BUT paying them more won't up the quality.
 
www.enca.com

Pilots' Association heading to court

The SAA Pilots' Association is seeking an urgent application from the Labour Court to stop the carrier from using replacement labour.
www.enca.com www.enca.com

JOHANNESBURG - SAA pilots are heading to court on Thursday.

The SAA Pilots Association is seeking an urgent application from the Labour Court to stop the carrier from using replacement labour.
 
Corelli said:
We have some of the most spoiled pilots in the world. Do they really need concierge service and 5* accomodation?

But seriously. Lets sack them all. Or they can strike indefinately without pay. Last time I flew with them was 25 years ago and never since. We tried to get my grandmom from JHB to Cape Town via their guided system ie take granny or kids from the terminal into then plane and then from the plane to the people coming to collect her at the arrival space (you then paid almost triple the ticket for that.) Basically my grandmom never got fetched from the plane and got lost in the terminal. After an hour and half search she was found. Never again will we support them.

Oh thats not the worst. During apartheid they tried to carry explosives on the passenger liner for smuggling. The plane crashed after take off. SAA never apologised. We lost an uncle, aunt and cousins.
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Which plane was this? The Helderberg went down as it began the procedures to land at Mauritius so it can't be that one.
 
bwana said:
I get why, what I doubt is the efficacy of their methods.
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Government has a real big hardon for ensuring SAA flies again, SAA cannot fly without the pilots, so it's a way to get what is due to them, or do you think government will actually give up on SAA flying again?
 
supersunbird said:
Government has a real big hardon for ensuring SAA flies again, SAA cannot fly without the pilots, so it's a way to get what is due to them, or do you think government will actually give up on SAA flying again?
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they can't. all of their 'loans' they p!ssed into this mess will be call on if they liquidate this garbage airline, and it will tank us all.
it's great having non-economist, non-business people run our land
 
Leave them on the ground. Taxi drivers will soon fly these planes more efficiently. And then will have some ni e stopa along the way. May be overcrowded though.
 
BBSA said:
Nothing stop them from using replacement labour(except if the court case goes against them)
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I'm sure there is an article around somewhere explaining why they can't just use replacement labour, there was something about a certain kind of pilot that ensures that the airline can have a safety certificate to operate from the CAA and such, this is not just like getting a scab truck driver with the right license for the municipal refuse truck.
 
dualmeister said:
www.enca.com

Pilots' Association heading to court

The SAA Pilots' Association is seeking an urgent application from the Labour Court to stop the carrier from using replacement labour.
www.enca.com www.enca.com

JOHANNESBURG - SAA pilots are heading to court on Thursday.

The SAA Pilots Association is seeking an urgent application from the Labour Court to stop the carrier from using replacement labour.
Click to expand...
Replace them for what? It's not like they actually have any planes in the air.
 
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