Carris workers, drivers and brakemen have announced a 24-hour strike today in protest at management’s lack of response to demands for real wage increases and a 35-hour work week.
According to the Portuguese Road and Urban Transport Workers’ Union (STRUP), part of the Federation of Transport and Telecommunications Trade Unions (FECTTRANS), fixed-line workers are on strike at the fair this Thursday from 00:00 to 23:59.
The union stresses that all workers who start their working period before 00:00 on Thursday or whose longest period of work corresponds to this date are covered by the strike notice.
“They strike from the beginning of their working day until the end. Also insured are workers who finish their working day after 24:00 on that day,” STRUP explains in its statement.
The union structure states that the Arbitration Court determined the minimum services for the strike, considering necessary, in particular, the operation of exclusive transport for the disabled, the emergency department and the medical center.
According to STRUP, the Arbitration Court did not accept the company’s proposal, which sought “maximum services” for bus traffic.
At the last plenary session on June 19, the workers considered it “unacceptable that the Carris (CA) board of directors continues to operate without responding to constant demands”, despite the “net profit of the company of 9.5 million euros” projected by the company in the report and accounts for 2023.
Among the demands, the workers are demanding a 100-euro increase in the wage scale, an increase in the cost of food benefits, an increase to 35 hours per week, including travel time to and from the drop-off points, and a move to the Lisbon metropolitan area.
According to STRUP, these requirements are “necessary not only to improve the living conditions of workers, but also to create conditions for retaining workers necessary for the public service provided by the company and to create attractive conditions for the recruitment of new workers.”
STRUP is calling on workers to meet at Pontinha station at 10:30 to decide “how to continue the struggle” if the company’s board of directors “does not appear at the meeting scheduled for 23 July at 15:00 with an attitude towards meeting the basic demands of this struggle process.”
At the last plenary session, STRUP was instructed to continue the process of fighting the strike during the first two hours and the last two hours of daily working time in the week from 15 to 19 July.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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