CP bar workers with wages arrears for 33 days have set up camp in Lisbon and Porto and vow to intensify the fight from Monday, accusing the government and the company of insensitivity.
“We camped for 33 days and 33 nights outside of Santa Apolonia and also in Porto due to the situation we live in. We’re approaching three months without a paycheck. This is a dramatic social situation. it’s hard to live without the low wages the workers receive,” Luis Batista, leader of the Union of Hospitality of the South, said in a statement to Lusa.
For the trade union structure, this process dragged on “unacceptably” as a result of the “extreme insensitivity” of the Communist Party of Portugal and the government.
The operation of the CP railway rods has been entrusted to Apeadeiro 2020, which has already declared itself insolvent.
This company stopped paying wages, and service in the train bars was suspended a few weeks ago.
The workers have been on strike since March 1 and are on duty in Campagna in Porto and Santa Apolonia in Lisbon.
These workers are asking that their rights, namely wages and contracts, be guaranteed directly by CP until a new concessionaire appears.
On Thursday, the workers’ representatives handed over to the CP a set of four questions requiring an answer, with an offer to leave the camp if they received an answer to them.
According to the Sindicato de Hotelaria do Sul, the CP management committed to respond by the end of the same day, but in the end, this did not happen.
Workers demand to know if the company has launched a tender to replace Apeadeiro 2020 as announced, or a contractual process where the new concessionaire intends to pay overdue wages and what the jobs will look like.
On the other hand, they complain that CP discloses which companies were contacted in this process.
What companies did you contact? Is it ladder companies like Apeadeiro 2020 that have accumulated almost a million in debt in 18 months and created this crisis?” he asked.
In total, about 130 workers worked in shifts in this camp.
“Today, when most Portuguese join their families and go to their land, bar workers on CP trains are forced to dine on Easter Sunday at the door of Santa Apolonia and Campagna,” said Luis Baptiste.
The union also criticized the government’s position, stressing that it was already clear that “words are carried by the wind” and thanked associations, social movements and individuals for their solidarity with these workers.
“We have already distributed over 1,000 meals to colleagues and a ton of food in baskets. Not a single signal or position from the government and the Communist Party could minimize this impact,” he said.
Faced with such a scenario, the workers are ready to step up their forms of struggle, meetings and plenary sessions are scheduled for this Monday to discuss new steps.
“Railway workers will not give up until this process is resolved,” he concluded.
On April 3, CP announced the start of preliminary consultations to select a new concessionaire for long-distance trains following the termination of the contract with Apeadeiro 2020.
The operator recalled in a statement that “it has proceeded to terminate the contract for the provision of services for the operation of the cafeteria and bar on board the Alfa Pendular and Intercidades trains, concluded with the company Apeadeiro 2020.”
Therefore, “CP held preliminary consultations, inviting various organizations to submit proposals with a view to signing a new contract for the provision of services for the operation of the cafeteria and bar on board the Alfa Pendular and Intercidades trains in the service of CP.”
The company said it hopes that “within two to three weeks, the cafeteria and bar aboard the Alfa Pendular and Intercidades trains will be reopened and the employment situation of the workers involved will be resolved.”
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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