South African government at loggerheads with unions over airline wages

South Africa’s government and trade unions are at loggerheads over unpaid salaries at SAA, which could lead to a messy court battle that may further complicate efforts to rescue the struggling airline. State-owned SAA has not made a profit in almost a decade and was already under bankruptcy protection when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, exacerbating its woes. It halted all but repatriation and cargo flights in March before suspending all operations in September. Some employees have not been paid since March. The ministry responsible for SAA wants workers to accept three months of unpaid wages totalling 600m rand ($40m) as it pushes to get the national carrier back in the air next year. But unions say their members are due more: five months’ salary for those who accepted voluntary severance packages before a September deadline and eight months for those still in layoff talks. That would be in addition to the severance packages themselves, which have yet to be paid.<br/>