SAA business rescue practitioners (BRPs) announced on Monday that around 4 708 employees will be affected during the ‘consultation process’.
The courts scoffed the unions’ urgent interdict as irrelevant.
The airline confirmed that 11 routes will be cancelled, casting a shadow of doubt over the future of thousands of employees.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says retrenchment packages fall outside of the mandate of the UIF and should be paid by SAA itself.
Jobs will be lost at plants in Port Elizabeth and East London as the debt-laden company seeks efficiencies.
Numsa said ‘the working class is clearly under attack’ after news that Glencore could be retrenching more than 1 300 workers.
Trade union Solidarity said on Monday that government’s economic policy was responsible for the ‘retrenchment bloodbath’ in South Africa’s manufacturing sector.