PORTWAY WORKERS BEGIN THREE-DAY STRIKE AT AIRPORTS TODAY

Portway workers today start a three-day strike at Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Madeira airports, called by the National Civil Aviation Workers Union (Sintac), which is expected to cause disruptions to the operation.

The strike, scheduled for today, Saturday and Sunday, contests “the HR policy [human resources] adopted over the last few years by Portway, a company owned by the Vinci group, of confrontation and devaluation of workers through consecutive breaches of the Company, disciplinary confrontation, absence of salary updates, misrepresentation of performance evaluations that avoid salary progressions and bad faith in negotiations”, indicated the union.

The notice foresees the general stoppage of workers of the ground assistance company, at Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Madeira airports, starting at 00:00 today and ending at 24:00 on Sunday.

Syntac accuses Portway of promoting a “climate of psychological terror, where threats and disciplinary proceedings proliferate, creating a social instability unparalleled in the history of the company”, and the workers demand compliance with the 2016 Company Agreement and an evaluation of performance that does not serve to prevent progressions.

Syntac also wants 100% payment of holidays to all workers and immediate salary updates, taking inflation into account.

ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal and Portway warned on Thursday of possible disruptions in 22 airlines operating at national airports.

In a note published on their websites, the manager of national airports, owned by Vinci, and the ground handling company, from the same group, published a list of “airlines whose flights could be affected by the strike called by a union” in ground handling company.

The companies concerned are Aegean, Air Canada, Air Transat, American Airlines, Blue Air, Brussels, Cabo Verde Airlines, Easyjet, Euroatlantic, European Air Transport, Eurowings, Finnair, Flyone, Latam, Luxair, Swiftair, Transavia, Transavia France , Tunisair, Turkish Airlines, Volotea and Wizzair. These companies use the services of Portway, and there is another ‘handling’ company in Portugal, Groundforce.

In a statement on Thursday morning, Portway reported on the possibility of constraints at national airports, due to the strike, regretting “the inconvenience that this situation will cause to passengers”.

Taking into account the impact that the strike may have on airport operations, the company also advised travelers to confirm their flights with the airlines, before heading to the airports, with references to the airlines affected by the strike being in permanent update at https://www.portway.pt/pt/media/noticias/.

The union and Portway did not reach an agreement on the definition of minimum services for the strike, after a meeting with the Directorate-General for Employment and Labor Relations (DGERT).

However, Sintac said he was aware that employees of temporary work companies can be called, “with almost zero experience, which could jeopardize flight safety”. In turn, Portway said that it “strongly rejects any accusation of concessions or operational facilitations”.

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 asked for the intervention of the Authority for Working Conditions (ACT ), ensuring that Portway is “compromising” workers’ rights.

From Jornal Madeira