The National Union of Civil Aviation Workers (Sintac) denounced this Friday before the Government and the Working Conditions Authority (ACT) the hiring of external services to replace the strikers in Portway, which the company rejects.
“The Sntac notified this morning of Friday, August 26, the Working Conditions Authority and the Ministry of Labor, Solidarity and Security that Portway resorted to contracting external services to replace the strikers,” reads a statement released this Friday.
At stake are the services of ‘push-back’ (a tractor that pushes planes onto the runway), the union structure said.
Questioned by Lusa, an official source from Portway assured that the company “did not contract external services to face the strike”, pointing out that “those who can legitimately do so are the airlines and the airports”.
Portway also stressed that the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) and ACT “are on the ground to verify the legitimacy of all situations.”
Port workers began a three-day strike at the Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Madeira airports this Friday, called by Sintoc, which resulted in the cancellation of more than eight dozen connections.
The strike, scheduled for this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, challenges “the HR policy [recursos humanos] assumed in recent years by Portway, a company owned by the Vinci group, of confrontation and devaluation of workers for consecutive breaches of the Company Agreement, disciplinary confrontation, lack of salary update, misrepresentation of performance evaluations that prevent salary progressions and bad faith in negotiations,” the union said.
In the note sent to ACT and the Government, Sintoc recalled that replacing the strikers “is a legal crime”, underlining that, so far, Ryanair/Groundlink and Groundforce have been the companies that have made themselves available to perform this service. .
Syntac also estimated the “general strike” of workers at the airports of Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Madeira.
The notice provides for the general strike of the workers of the ground handling company, at the airports of Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Madeira, starting at 00:00 this Friday and ending at 24:00 on Sunday .
The union structure accuses Portway of promoting a “climate of psychological terror, where threats and disciplinary processes proliferate, creating social instability unprecedented in the history of the company”, and the workers demand compliance with the 2016 Company Agreement and a performance evaluation that does not serve to avoid progressions.
Syntac also wants 100% vacation pay for all workers and immediate wage updates, taking inflation into account.
ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal and Portway warned on Thursday of possible disruptions to 22 airlines operating at domestic airports.
The union and Portway did not reach an agreement on the definition of minimum services for the strike, after a meeting with the General Directorate of Employment and Labor Relations (DGERT).
However, Sintac said it was aware that employees of temporary employment agencies, “with almost no experience, could be called in, which could jeopardize the safety of flights.” For its part, Portway said it “strongly repudiates any accusation of concessions or operational facilitation.”
This week, Sintoc also accused the Government of having launched an order “that violates the right to strike” of Portway workers who provide assistance to people with reduced mobility at national airports and requested the intervention of the Working Conditions Authority (ACT). ), claiming that Portway is “compromising” the rights of workers.
Source: Observadora
