This Thursday, the PKP secretary general stressed that TAR is the nation’s largest exporter and considered that its privatization would be a “serious shot in the foot”, calling for an appreciation and an increase in the wages of its workers.
Speaking to journalists after a meeting with organizations representing workers (ORT) in civil aviation at Lisbon airport, Paulo Raimundo said the problem in the sector is cross-cutting in many areas: “It is a problem of instability, low wages, constant instability. “.
For the communist leader’s response to these workers, “it is essential to guarantee a strong public sector, starting with the central element, which is TAP as a public company.”
When asked whether public control of the TAR would be a requirement in the event of a possible post-election agreement with the PS, Paulo Raimundo replied that “this is not a fundamental question”, but rather whether “heritage is a central element, even from an economic point of view” or do you prefer to leave it “as a central element that demands answers.”
“This is the central question. Agreements or no agreements… Our biggest problem is not an agreement that we will or will not write, our biggest problem is the choice or widespread obsession, and in particular PS, privatization of part or all of TAP,” he said .
Paulo Raimundo argued that this privatization would be “a crime for TAP and a serious blow in the foot for the civil aviation sector,” calling for the creation of conditions to “put an end once and for all to the alleged state management of this company, which, at heart, is guided by private criteria and wants prepare for privatization.”
TAR “is the largest exporter in the country. When everyone is puffed up, saying that exports are what they are, there is no need to destroy the largest national exporter,” he asked.
Asked whether the state-owned PVR can compete with its international competitors in retaining its staff, especially in the maintenance area, Paulo Raimundo asked if there was an alternative to “locking up the house and handing over the keys.”
The communist leader argued that the only way to compete with these competitors was to achieve significant wage increases not only for maintenance personnel, but also for ground staff, pilots and everyone else working in civil aviation.
“Because what is the alternative if we don’t increase wages significantly, even to ensure that these skilled resources remain in our country? Is it to drive them all out of the country? Is it to give up the country? We don’t want to. I’m not giving up,” he said.
Paulo Raimundo said his party is not abandoning TAP as a state-owned company, nor the civil aviation sector as “defining for the country”, nor the “fundamental issue of increasing wages, which is central to everything.”
According to the PKP leader, this issue is relevant not only for civil aviation workers, but also for “hundreds of companies” such as Lisnave or OGMA.
“If we do not take the step of significantly increasing wages, we risk not being able to continue production due to labor shortages. Anyone who does not want to do this covers his head with earth. We will not”. We will bury our heads in the sand, and we will solve this problem courageously, decisively and will not back down from it,” he assured.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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