A meeting organised to resolve an impasse between the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union and Equity Aviation Services started on Friday at the headquarters of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, Satawu said.
The main point of discussion at the meeting would be around the picketing area, Satawu aviation coordinator Evan Abrahamse said.
”We don’t know that the wage offer issue will come up, but for now the dispute is around the picketing area,” Abrahamse said.
He said Equity Aviation Services locked out Satawu members who embarked on a strike on Thursday, demanding an eight percent salary increase when the firm offered them six percent.
Abrahamse said about 700 members of Satawu were taking part in the strike against Equity Aviation Services — a ramp and baggage handling firm.
The demonstrations were taking place at all the main airports in South Africa except Durban. It was not confirmed that workers at this airport took part in the strike.
Equity Aviation Services said on Wednesday that the strike took place after months of difficult negotiations, including a number of unsuccessful rounds at the CCMA.
Herman Fleischman, a spokesperson for the company, said the union demands were unreasonable and out of step with the market.
He said the talks at the CCMA on Friday were not about the reportedly inappropriate picketing areas, but about the dispute over the wage increment.
”It is not a meeting about picketing areas, it is about the wage offer. We are staying with what we offered,” Fleischman said. – Sapa