Monday, March 28, 2011

Air Zimbabwe strike news


Air Zimbabwe strike entered into its seventh day today Monday morning with endless in scene.
pilots had not yet returned to work demanding payment of their outstanding salaries and allowances estimated at around $9 million.
As a result, Air Zimbabwe had reportedly leased a private aircraft to fly the Harare-Johannesburg-Harare route as a stop-gap measure to ease pressure caused by the strike.
In a statement on Saturday, board chairperson, Jonathan Kadzura, said:
“Air Zimbabwe board and management wish to advise the public that whilst negotiations are still underway with our pilots to restore normal operations, we have resumed operations on the Harare-Johannesburg-Harare route and will be operating on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with normal timings until further notice.”
Kadzura urged striking pilots, who have been refusing to fly since last Tuesday, to go back to work while their grievances were being looked into.
“We can work out something when we are flying not when we are grounded. The business is not viable and the best we can do is going back to work and maybe restructure and work out how best we can come up with something for our workers.”
A similar strike by the pilots in September last year cost Air Zimbabwe around $3, 5 million.
The national airliner lost most of its senior pilots and engineers over the last few years who left the country for greener pastures.