Aviation
Fastjet to fly to Dar es Salaam
Low-cost airline Fastjet, registered on the London Stock Exchange, is selling tickets on-line for its new service between Johannesburg and Dar es Salaam due to start on September 27. It will compete with SAA, the only airline flying directly between the two cities. It will offer three flights a week but this could increase depending on demand. Spokesman Cian MacEochaidh of Tribeca Public Relations said the lowest return economy fare with a checked-in suitcase would be the dollar equivalent of R3 500 compared with more than R 6 000 charged by SAA. Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines offer indirect flights to Dar es Salaam at the dollar equivalent of more than R5 000 via Nairobi or Addis Ababa. – Audrey D’Angelo
Coal
Housing sums cause dispute
Solidarity had declared a dispute with the Chamber of Mines over inequalities in housing allowances in the coal sector, the trade union said yesterday. The dispute followed the chamber’s decision to increase its wage offer to 7 percent from 6.5 percent yesterday. The offer included a 7 percent increase in the housing allowance. Solidarity general secretary Gideon du Plessis said the union submitted a request that all employers’ housing allowances be brought in line with that offered by Anglo American Thermal Coal., which paid the most. “The dispute over the inequalities in the housing allowance has been dragging on for eight years and must be resolved,” Du Plessis said. Negotiations in the gold industry must pick up pace, he added. Unions in the gold sector are demanding wage increases of between 60 percent and 150 percent. – Dineo Faku