Union warns two-day strike will cause ‘major disruption’ at all Portuguese airports
With Sttamp, the Portuguese Transport Workers’ Union, predicting “major disruption” for all Portuguese airports due to the strike scheduled for August 31 and September 1, Menzies Aviation Portugal, the new owners of Groundforce handling company, has come up with a contingency plan which it believes will reduce the chaos.
In charge of former Groundforce since June this year, Menzies Aviation has equally accused Sttamp of calling the strike without first attempting dialogue.
“We want to assure our customers and passengers that robust contingency plans are already in place to ensure that possible disruptions are minimised”, said Rui Gomes, the company’s vice-president, in a written reaction released yesterday.
“We are deeply disappointed by the decision of some of our unions to immediately go on strike without first seeking dialogue with us to find a joint solution and resolve this issue”, he added.
On August 14, Sttamp issued a strike notice covering all national airports from 00:00 on August 31, 2024 to 24:00 on September 1, 2024”.
Earlier this week, the union warned of “serious constraints at national airports, particularly Porto and Lisbon, the effects of which are totally unpredictable at this time”.
The union told Lusa there was this far “no negotiating development that would allow the strike to be called off”.
Menzies meantime is uncomfortable with the intention to renegotiate recently signed company agreements, writes ECO online.
“About three months ago, when Menzies Aviation acquired Groundforce Portugal, we agreed a recovery plan for the company, with the acceptance of 98% of our creditors and the majority of workers.
“As part of this commitment, all the unions signed the new Company Agreement, which includes wage conditions that are higher than the national guaranteed minimum wage. Unfortunately, some unions, which represent only part of our workforce in Portugal, now want to renegotiate the terms agreed less than three months ago”, Rui Gomes explained.
“In addition to significantly altering the commitments set out in the Company Agreement in force, this situation is highly disruptive during a period of high activity for aviation in Portugal and could delay the recovery plan we have implemented”, he added.
Sttamp justifies calling the strike with “the existence of basic salaries below the national minimum wage (…) the systematic use of workers from temporary labour companies (…) overtime work that does not comply with legal limits in force (…) and successive changes to schedules outside provisions of the Company Agreement”.
Menzies Aviation finalised the acquisition of a 50.1% stake in Groundforce Portugal in June. The remaining 49.9 per cent belongs to TAP (meaning the Portuguese State)
Sources: LUSA/ ECO online
