Pilots at Mango airlines are threatening to strike after salary negotiations between trade union Solidarity and the low cost carrier deadlocked on Friday (January 24).
According to the union, a strike certificate was issued to trade union and it would meet with its members to decide on a way forward. The union said it wanted to avoid a strike. Mango could not be reached for comment at the time of publication, but spokesperson Hein Kaiser was quoted by News 24 as saying contingency plans were in place to manage any possible disruption, should industrial action take place.

Marius Croucamp, Solidarity Spokesperson, said the dispute arose from the fact that in 2011 Mango gave a written undertaking to bring the remuneration of its pilots in line with that of their peers at other low cost airlines by 2014. The following year, a three-year salary agreement was signed to give effect to the undertaking. According to Croucamp, the airline applied to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to get it rescinded on a technicality.
“Mango’s decision to violate the spirit of the existing agreement, opting for litigation instead, threatens to undermine labour peace and stability at the carrier,” said Croucamp. “According to Solidarity, Mango’s sudden swing is in gross contempt of the parity ideal of the 2011 agreement.”
Croucamp said although Mango convinced the CCMA to rescind the review clause, the CCMA also recommended that the parties should still enter into negotiations on how to achieve parity among the low cost airlines. Solidarity has attempted to enter into such negotiations with Mango but without success. 
According to the union, the increase Mango is currently offering would mean its pilots earned approximately 16% less than their peers, which is in breach of the 2011 agreement.