The Union of Dockers and Logistics Activity (SEAL) reacted to the fact that in the last few days several news were published in the regional press of Madeira that demonstrate that the struggle of the dockers in the port of Lisbon is serving for all types of exploitation, in especially economic and political, which they regret through a communiqué.
“The Lisbon dockers called for a strike that does not cover the ETE group, which is in charge of the exclusive transport of goods, by sea, between the capital’s port and the Madeira archipelago. For this reason, the news that justifies an alleged lack of essential goods in the Madeira archipelago is totally false with the strike called by SEAL for the port of Lisbon ”, says the Union.
For SEAL, “it is surprising, moreover, that the fake news soon deserved political interventions, initially by CDS-Madeira, which, perhaps, could be explained by the connection that Yilport administrator, Dr. Diogo Vaz Marecos, have this party ”. The regional government is also not spared because, “go ahead and know why, you have joined this defamatory campaign, and you cannot ignore the content of the notice and the fact that it is not directed at any ships or cargo destined or coming of this autonomous region ”.
The position adopted by the SONAE group is also called into question for allegedly taking advantage of “the smear campaign” to create “card compensations” of 10% of the value of purchases, to make up for the alleged “inconvenience caused by delays at ports”. “In other words, it seems that the dockers’ strike even serves to fuel a marketing campaign in Mainland Portugal in Madeira”, says the SEAL note.
The union defends itself against the accusations alleging that it has always “fully complied with all the minimum services decreed by the government in previous strikes and, in this specific case, cannot perceive the need to declare minimum services related to ships and cargo destined or coming from a region on which there is no strike ”.
Furthermore, SEAL repudiates the content of the news, which it denies, referring the press to a reading of the strike notice in order to avoid what it classifies as absurd: “the requirement to comply with minimum services and the effects noted feel the effect of a strike that has not yet started, as its start is scheduled only for the next 19th of February and, it is repeated, without affecting any maritime connection to the Autonomous Region of Madeira ”.
SEAL also asks a question and leaves a threat: “What is the concrete element that determined that the regional press started a campaign that SEAL considers defamatory which, if prolonged, will cause it to be forced to launch judicial means at their disposal, not only to restore the truth but also to hold the perpetrators responsible ”.