South African Airways (SOC) Limited
("SAA") is a party to an evergreen
regulating agreement between it and the South African Airways'
Pilots Association ("SAAPA"), which
regulates its pilots' terms and conditions of employment. These
terms and conditions of the pilots are more favourable than
comparable airlines and over the years, SAA has sought to
renegotiate the regulating agreement, with SAAPA thwarting all such
attempts.
On 5 December 2019, SAA was placed in business rescue. On 14
July 2020, a business rescue plan was published to turn around SAA
and make it a profitable and self-sustaining airline. As part of
that turnaround, SAA sought to negotiate new terms and conditions
of employment with SAAPA. When SAAPA refused, SAA demanded that
SAAPA agree to the termination of the regulating agreement. SAA
then implemented a lawful lockout on 16 December 2020 and locked
out the SAAPA pilots (with limited exceptions) from 18 December
2020.
