The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) said on Monday it would present a possible new settlement option to striking airport baggage handlers.
The union said in a statement that its executive committee had met over the weekend and had come up with a possible solution to the three-month-old strike involving 800 union members. It would, however, not yet divulge details.
Satawu spokesperson Randall Howard said the possible settlement would be put to striking members to get a mandate before the employer, Equity Aviation Services, would be approached.
He called on the company to ”bargain in good faith and fundamentally change their attitude of arrogance and intransigence”.
”Report backs to the strikers are to be held on Monday [April 29] and depending on the mandates provided, the settlement proposal will be put to management in the course of this week.”
The company and its workers have been in dispute since December over salary increases and an increase in working hours.
Satawu also welcomed a decision by South African Airways (SAA) on March 19 not to allow its staff to be use as scab workers for Equity Aviation.
”This has been a long standing demand of the union to SAA. Satawu calls on all other aviation operators and their workers to avoid being used as scabs by Equity Aviation.”
Satawu expressed gratitude for donations by several Congress of South African Trade Unions-affiliated unions to assist the striking workers.
”However the total raised to date goes nowhere near to meeting the needs of the strikers and Satawu appeals to all other Cosatu affiliates to make their contributions as a matter of urgency.”
The union also welcomed an undertaking by the British Trades Union Council to meet Serco UK, a large shareholder in Equity Aviation, to discuss the strike.
”The meeting will also hopefully contribute substantially to putting the record straight on a number of matters over which Satawu believes [Equity Aviation] management has deliberately been misleading its shareholders.” — Sapa