The South African Transport Workers Union (Satawu) on Wednesday accused the airports baggage handing company Equity Aviation of “lying” in the media about an
ongoing strike dispute.
Satawu said it was astonished at the lengths Equity Aviation was prepared to go to to misrepresent the truth about the current dispute.
This follows media reports quoting the company’s spokesperson Herman Fleischman as saying “Our offer still stands. The union has requested more time via the Commission for Conciliatory, Mediation and Arbitrary (CCMA)”.
The trade union contended there was absolutely no truth in this. Satawu claimed that talks at the CCMA had broken down two weeks ago.
The union said it has made it categorically clear that it does not accept the last demand made by the company in these talks.
“This demand included that workers accept working for an extra five hours a week without compensation, and a wage increase of 3,5% combined with a performance bonus of up to 3%. This is not the first time that the company has issued a completely misleading statement.”
Satawu accused the company of previously claiming that the union had rejected an agreement reached with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and walked out of talks.
“Neither of these statements was true, just as the latest statement is untrue.”
The union added that the central executive committee of Cosatu has discussed a programme of solidarity action and support for the striking workers.
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana last week expressed his disappointment that the two month old strike by baggage handlers involving Satawu and Equity Aviation has still not been resolved.
“I call on Equity Aviation management to endeavour in a much more constructive way in resolving this protracted dispute with the leadership of Satawu,” the Minister said.
“It is in the interest of the African National Congress government as we believe in social dialogue that the two parties should resolve this dispute by engaging one another”, the minister said.
Satawu contends that the dispute at Equity Aviation is over the company’s demand that workers accept an increase in hours of work without compensation, as well as a number of variations in conditions.
Satawu is demanding an 8% wage increase and is also seeking a 40- hour work-week for employees, while the company is offering 6%.
The company has a total workforce of 1 500 and it is believed about 900 of those belong to Satawu. – I-Net Bridge