Weekend marked by transport strikes in the Lisbon region – Sociedade

The weekend will be marked by strikes in urban transport in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area due to strikes, mainly demanding salary increases, and the Lisbon Metro should not extend the timetable on Santo António’s night.

Workers from Transtejo and Soflusa, companies with a single administration that operate the river crossing between Lisbon and the so-called Margem Sul, will carry out work stoppages between Saturday and Monday (between June 11 and 13, municipal holiday in the capital) due to salary appreciation and by hiring more employees.

The central claim of this struggle, according to the Federation of Transport and Communications Unions (Fectrans), is the demand for an increase in salaries, which it considers to be unreasonable with the proposal of 0.9% of the administration/Government, at a time when that inflation is above 7%.

In addition to the salary issue, Soflusa workers demand the hiring of workers, because the company needs “another 13 machinists to complete the 34 crews”, according to the leader of the River, Coastal and Merchant Marine Workers Union Carlos Costa. Currently, he said, there are only 11 machinists, with a crew composed of a machinist, a master and two sailors.

At Transtejo (responsible for the Seixal, Montijo, Cacilhas and Trafaria/Porto Brandão terminals, in the district of Setúbal), the strike takes place on Saturday and Sunday, between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm on both days.

The stoppage at Soflusa starts on Sunday at 3:00 pm and ends on Monday at 8:00 am, thus being able to condition the service of the crossing between Barreiro (setúbal district) and Terreiro do Paço, in Lisbon.

Also, the extension of the Lisbon Metropolitano service, on the night of June 12th to 13th (from Sunday to Monday), due to the Santo António festivities in the city, should not work due to the overtime strike and special events taking place this year. month of June, since the proposal presented by the company to the unions is considered “very insufficient”.

Anabela Carvalheira, from Fectrans, indicated today that “at this time the special service is not guaranteed”, but stressed that, although no meeting has been scheduled with the company’s management or with the guardianship, “it does not mean that at any time you cannot exist”.

“We are [organizações sindicais] always available for that”, he stressed, after on Wednesday the workers in plenary had decided to keep the strike notice.

Also at CP — Comboios de Portugal there may be disturbances on the trains, due to the workers’ strike for overtime and holidays, which lasts until the end of the month. A 24-hour strike was also scheduled for this Sunday, in the territory south of Pombal (north of this municipality there will be a strike on June 23).

On a weekend that brings together two holidays – a national one on Friday, June 10, and Lisbon (13) -, river connections between Setúbal and Troia, on the Sado river, should be affected on Saturday and Sunday, due to partial strikes of two hours per shift at Atlantic Ferries.

However, a plenary session of workers was scheduled for today to appreciate the company’s counter-proposal to the claim form.

According to trade unionist Carlos Costa, Atlantic Ferries workers demand a review of the Company Agreement, including a 5% salary update for this year.

At road level, the workers of CarrisTur, one of the largest local tour operators, under the Yellow Bus brand, will be on strike for all work beyond the eight hours of daily service, on Saturday and Sunday.

CarrisTur is present in Lisbon, Porto, Funchal, Coimbra, Braga, Guimarães and in São Miguel, in the Azores.

In Lisbon, it operates, on an exclusive basis, historic tram circuits and a regular bus service between the Airport and the main hotels in the city (Aerobus).

In a conciliation meeting between the Union of Road and Urban Transport Workers of Portugal (STRUP) and the Ministry of Labour, at the end of May, CarrisTur recognized the need to resume the negotiation process, indicated the union.

However, STRUP stressed that the process of fighting for a salary increase of 70 euros, among many other demands, would only be raised if there were “concrete developments with positive results” in the face of the demands.

The trade union central CGTP-IN defined a period of actions of national struggle that runs from March 27th to July 7th, under the motto “For the Increase of Salaries and Pensions! Against the Increase in the Cost of Living and the Attack on Rights!” .

Although not a transport company, Empresa Municipal de Parque de Lisboa (EMEL) is on strike again today, demanding negotiations for salary increases of 90 euros.