The pilots of the state-owned South African Airways (SAA) began a strike on Thursday, demanding an increase in wages, local news outlet EWN reported.
The workers have been carrying on negotiations with the company since May, the report noted. According to the news outlet, first they were demanding rising their wage by 30%, however later they reduced the figure to 15.7%.
A representative for SAA Pilots, Sibusiso Nxumalo, told SABC News that two pilots' associations have decided to join the strike, and that it is only the beginning of an indefinite strike.
"It is not something that we wanted, but we’ve had eight months of engagement with the company, and within those eight months, we’ve only had 4.5 days of actual negotiations. When we tabled our demands, it was not met by the company and we unfortunately had to get to this point," he told the outlet.
In response, the SAA suggested an 8.46% increase in pilots' salary. The company's spokesperson Vimla Maistry expressed SAA's desire to reach a fair agreement with the employees.
"The SAA management team is committed to reaching a fair resolution and is implementing contingency measures to ensure that any disruption to our operations will be as minimal as possible for our valued customers, especially during the busy December season," she told the media.