Government set minimum services for port workers’ strike

The government has set minimum services for the Portway ‘handlig’ workers’ strike on 30 and 31 July and 5 and 6 August, and for public holiday work from 1 August.

According to the published order of the Ministries of Labor and Infrastructure, employees of Portway – Handling de Portugal will have to provide minimum ground handling for flights at the affected airports, namely in Lisbon and Porto, on each day of the strike.

In the case of Lisbon Airport, these minimum services will be required to assist passengers on a daily flight between Lisbon-Funchal-Lisbon, as well as one flight per day to and from Geneva, London, Luxembourg and Paris.

Also in the case of Porto Airport, the minimum services will have to guarantee the conditions for a daily flight from this airport to the same destinations, as well as an appropriate refund.

The list of minimum services also includes stopover assistance on government flights (domestic or foreign), military or forced due to critical situations related to the safety of people and goods, such as ambulance flights, or for technical or meteorological reasons.

The minimum services will also have to cover flights of a humanitarian nature related to the war in Ukraine, or flights that were already operating at the time the strike began.

These minimum services were introduced after the company and unions failed to agree on a definition.

We are talking about a strike at work on a public holiday, which is an ordinary working day, starting from August 1 and for an indefinite period, and a total strike from 00:00 on July 30, 2023 to midnight on July 31, 2023 and from 00:00 on August 5, 2023 to midnight on August 6, 2023.

The strike was announced by the Democratic Union of Airport and Aviation Workers (SINDAV), the Union of Airport Maintenance Technicians (STHA), the Union of Aviation and Airport Workers (SITAVA) and the Union of Merchant Marines, Travel Agents, Freight Forwarders and Fishermen (SIMAMEVIP).