‘Retrenchments will be last resort’ – SAA

AS SAA nears the end of
its 90-day Action Plan,
which aims to steer
the airline back to the full
implementation of its LongTerm
Turnaround Strategy,
the airline has admitted it is
looking at possible job cuts.
During a recent media
event, SAA’s acting ceo,
Nico Bezuidenhout, said the
airline was in the process
of re-benchmarking its staff
numbers in line with 2009
figures, when the airline
employed 1 700 fewer
people.
He said that SAA was
engaging with management
to get back to the “optimal
headcount”.
Tlali Tlali, spokesperson
for SAA, told TNW: “The
reality is that SAA’s staff
headcount grew over the
past few years beyond
sustainable levels as
losses continued to impair
business stability.”
Tlali pointed out
that the reduction in
head count would be
a consultative process
with all stakeholders in
the company, with SAA
exploring various options,
including early retirement
and voluntary severance
packages, whereby
retrenchments would only
be a last resort.
“We are not able at this
stage to make available
the number of personnel
that will be affected by the
exercise as there is a due
process that needs to be
followed,” he said.