UPDATE: INDUSTRIAL ACTION AT SACAA IN MIDRAND

 

CAA MEDIA STATEMENT

15 DECEMBER 2006

 

The Industrial Action at the headquarters of the South African Civil Aviation Authority in Midrand is still on.  Service delivery is still taking place at the premises in Midrand as not all SACAA employees are involved in the strike.  

 

Auditors first identified the issue of paying bonuses, as a finding and the reasons cited was that this transaction was not based on any approved policy or formal process recognized by the organization.  As a result the board of the SACAA who took over the reigns at the regulator in May 2005, decided to make discretionary payments in December 2005.  The board also decided that the bonuses for the financial year 2006/7 would be paid after the end of the financial year (March 2007) and will be based on an approved Performance Management System.

 

This was reiterated in a communication to staff through a management bulletin from the Office of the CEO on the 13 September 2006.  A staff meeting on the 20th October followed this communication to further answer employee questions on the decision.

 

On the 18 October 2006 during a scheduled meeting between the Unions and the CEO, SATAWU members decided not to attend this meeting and in this meeting, the other union got further clarification on the reasons why the bonuses cannot be paid in December 2006 but after the financial year-end in March 2007.

 

SATAWU engaged the SACAA management in further discussions on several other meetings until they (SATAWU) decided to refer the matter to the CCMA.

 

After the two parties could not reach an agreement on the issue at the CCMA,  SATAWU decided to embark on a strike.  The SACAA management delegation proposed that an independent arbitrator be appointed to rule over this matter and SATAWU refused that offer.  The SACAA management would like to reiterate that this offer is still on the table together with the offer to meet the union representatives.

 

The SACAA management called for a meting with the representatives of the union late on the 13 December 2006 and also requested a meeting where the parties can agree on the rules of the strike/picketing.  Both requests were not responded to until this morning on Friday the 15th December 2006. Parties are scheduled to meet later today the 15th December 2006.

 

 

END

 

Contact:           Phindiwe Gwebu

                        SACAA Spokesperson

                        011 545 1086

                        083 635 0069

                        gwebup@caa.co.za