If a Numsa strike goes ahead on Thursday, it could spell disaster for thousands of South Africans planning to travel ahead of the Easter weekend.
On Tuesday, The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa served Comair with 48-hour notice to strike.
The probably strike action is related to wage disparities at the operator, whose brands include kulula.com and British Airways.
Kulula flights to East London from Johannesburg arrive at 8.15am and 5.25pm on Thursday. They depart East London for OR Tambo International Airport at 9am and 6.05pm.
The same times apply on Good Friday.
“Numsa has been attempting to resolve this issue with Comair since late last year. One of the decisions taken was that a working committee made up of Numsa members and Comair management would attempt to resolve this issue amicably,” said the union’s general secretary, Irvin Jim.
“We cannot allow a situation where the principle of equal pay for work of equal value is blatantly violated in the workplace.”Jim said the union had proposed Comair management agree on time frames for correcting wage disparities, and that it look at ways of reducing the wage gap.Their proposals included that in cases where the wage gap was less than R1,000, Comair should bridge the gap immediately.Where the wage gap was between R1,000 and R2,000, Comair should bridge that gap within a 12-month period. And where the wage gap is more than R5,000, the company would have three years to reduce the gap.“The management of Comair rejected this. Instead, they have made the outrageous proposal that the high earners should be denied wage increases until the salaries of other workers catch up. This is completely unacceptable,” Jim said.“Why should one group of workers be punished and denied wage increases, when it was management’s failure which led to the creation of this problem in the first place?”..