An agreement in principle has been drafted to resolve the dispute between South African Airways (SAA) and striking unions, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) said on Wednesday.
“Significant progress has been made towards resolution of the dispute. An in-principle agreement has been drafted, the contents of which cannot be disclosed at this stage,” the CCMA said in a press statement.
The parties will convene at 9am on Thursday after consulting with their principals.
United Association of South Africa spokesperson Andre Venter said the union will recommend acceptance of the agreement.
“Hopefully we will sign the agreement,” he said.
As an act of good faith, it is also hoped that members will return to their posts on Wednesday, he said. The proposal will be explained to members through delegates as well as through e-mail and SMS.
Spokespersons for the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union and SAA were not immediately available to comment.
The parties have agreed that details of the draft agreement not be revealed to the media.
Earlier, the SAA help desk said: “The strike is still on.”
The airline also apologised for the effects of the strike in a full-page newspaper notice headed “We are sorry”.
“When cabin crew fail to report for duty as part of this industrial action, we cannot operate flights as no aircraft can be operated without a minimum number of cabin crew. This is a safety requirement of the Civil Aviation Authority of South Africa,” the notice read.
Mediation began at 3pm on Tuesday in a bid to resolve a dispute over the 8% the unions want and the 5% the airline has offered.
The airline also believes that its application of the increase to medical aid and housing and a one-off payment of R1 600 improves the offer.
The unions say they agree over the amount available to the airline for increases, but disagree on how it will be shared.
Meanwhile, since the strike started on Friday, 75% of its flights have been cancelled, postponed or delayed, SAA said.
All international and regional flights have been cancelled until further notice and domestic flights are being assessed hourly.
About 65% of passengers have been rerouted, or accommodated on other flights or on SAA’s alliance partners.
If the present online booking falls into the dates affected by the strike, SAA said it will honour the change at the original price paid.
It has agreements with various airlines on endorsement of tickets, loaning of aircraft, additional capacity and consolidation of various SAA flights where possible.
Contingency plans include the training of contract cabin crew for relief on domestic flights and the training of students to operate call centres and reservations posts.
It is also accommodating up to 2 000 stranded passengers worldwide in hotels. — Sapa
Passengers can call +27 11 978 1111 (option one) to check whether their flight is affected without speaking to an operator. Otherwise, passengers can call the SAA call centre at +27 11 978 2888. Passengers can also log on to www.flysaa.com