Ahead of the Easter weekend rush, staff of Comair affiliated to the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) have issued their employer with a 48-hour notice to strike.

In a statement on Tuesday, the union said workers were downing tools over wage disparities at the airline. They want the wage gap to be closed.

“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 spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola.

“We proposed that management must, over time, increase wages of those who are affected by the gap, so there can be uniformity in their salaries – because they are doing the same kind of work.”

Hlubi-Majola said their requests for management to provide a timeline for addressing the salary discrepancies had been unsuccessful.

Comair could not be immediately reached for comment.