The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) has received a notice of retrenchment from Airchefs which is an airline catering company owned by the SAA group. Airchefs intends to retrench 118 workers out of a workforce of about 1200 people. We condemn this opportunistic act by Airchefs! SAA is in the process of implementing its turnaround strategy which affects all companies in the group, including the airline catering company. The Airchefs board and management did not consult the union when it made the decision to retrench workers. It is also strange that the board of the catering company is not waiting for SAA to implement the turnaround strategy before resorting to the drastic step of shedding jobs.
NUMSA demands that any discussion regarding retrenchments should take place within the SAA group which is the mother company. Our members demand that any restructuring must take place at a group level and should not be decentralized.
We are engaging with the group CEO at SAA Vuyani Jarana on this situation. We shall do all we can to defend workers and their jobs at Airchefs. The company has requested that consultations on retrenchments take place on the 15th of June 2018 at CCMA. We will continue to update and advise members on the way forward.
Aluta continua!
The struggle continues!
Issued by Phakamile Hlubi-Majola
NUMSA National Spokesperson
0833767725