The United Association of South Africa (Uasa) and the South African Transport
and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) began a meeting with South African Airways (SAA) at noon on Monday in the latest effort to break a pay deadlock, Uasa said.
Both unions had rejected an earlier offer of a 5% increase and a R1 600 cash payout in the dispute that has seen SAA cancel international and regional flights with only a few domestic flights operating.
The unions had been seeking 8% but Uasa general manager Andre Venter said his union went into the noon meeting with a new mandate.
Leon Grobler, chief operating officer of Uasa, said in a statement: “We are not prepared to say what our new mandate will be at this stage, but we are hopeful that our preparedness to move away from our previous position will play a catalytic role, which could facilitate an agreement.”
A Satawu spokesperson could not confirm the meeting, but did say that the union was hoping to be able to engage the airline in further talks.
SAA earlier on Monday sent planes to New York, Washington, Frankfurt, Paris and the United Kingdom to pick up stranded passengers.
This was in terms of a pre-strike agreement that staff already in an international country would work on the return journey, SAA spokesperson Onkgopotse JJ Tabane said.
Order appeared to have returned on Monday to Durban International airport after initial chaos caused by the strike.
“SAA does have flights in and out of Durban today, although it’s quite erratic,” said Colin Naidoo, spokesperson for Airports Company South Africa.
Like other major South African airports, the Durban airport on Friday was the scene of long queues and frustrated passengers waiting to get standby seats on other airlines.
“SAA passengers have been encouraged to make other travel arrangements,” said Naidoo.
SAA is trying to place its customers on flights by other airlines, “but those companies are giving priority to their booked passengers first”, he said. — Sapa
SAA urged passengers to contact its call centre on Tel: 011 978 2888, SAA reservations on Tel: 011 978 1111 or SAA Voyager on Tel: 011 978 5177 for more information and to confirm their flights. They can also log on to www.flysaa.com