The National Union of Civil Aviation Workers (SINTAC) and the Commercial Aviation Staff Union (SQAC), including cabin crew and ground handling staff, advanced a notice of strike at the 10 major Portuguese airports under concession to ANA [Airports of Portugal], owned by the French company VINCI, it was reported Monday.
According to the notice, the stoppage will take effect at midnight on 19 August (Friday) until the end of August 21 (Sunday), and will affect all workers at the airports of Lisbon, Porto, Faro, and Beja, the airports of Madeira and Porto Santo, and the airports of Ponta Delgada, Santa Maria, Horta, Flores in the Azores.
“Only by doing this we will be able to achieve what the company has been lacking for a long time: social stability, respect for workers’ rights and, fundamentally, for people,” the unions said in a joint statement.
The disruption, which will impact all airports controlled by ANA, and will affect thousands of international travellers, is the latest in a series of walkouts to hit European airports this summer.
The protest takes place after negotiations of an agreement between ANA/VINCI and the workers have failed. The strike notice was issued after consultation with workers and will come into force with full compliance.
“Given the inflexibility of the proposals presented by ANA/VINCI over the last year and the attempt to reducing rights enshrined in the Company Agreement, attacking the rights that workers have achieved over decades, SINTAC and SQAC consider it urgent to end this blind policy and put an end to all this uncertainty,” it was announced in a press release.
Both unions claimed in a statement that “after several attempts, over the last few years, to prevent a strike from going ahead,” they demand that ANA/VINCI “restore all suspended contributions to the pension fund of its workers,” that ANA increase the salary of its workers, “taking into account its results and inflation” and “take urgent measures to hire the shortage of human resources” and restore the necessary services to safeguard security and safety at the airport.
PAJ/Staff/Updated
ANA Aeroportos de Portugal Group is a business group responsible for the management of airports in Portugal (Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Beja), the Azores (Ponta Delgada, Horta, Flores and Santa Maria) and the Autonomous Region of Madeira (Madeira and Porto Santo).
ANA airports serve about 68 regular airlines, connecting the Portuguese regions with nearly 168 destinations around the world, reaching over 50 million passengers.
In 2013, ANA Aeroportos de Portugal Group integrated French owned VINCI Airports Group, a top 5 global player in the international airport sector, managing the operations of 36 airports: 13 in France, 10 in Portugal (including the hub of Lisbon), 3 in Cambodia, 2 in Japan, 6 in Dominican Republic, 1 in Brazil and Santiago airport in Chile. With 12,000 employees, VINCI serves more than 170 airlines and more than 156 million passengers annually. Additional information is available at www.vinci-airports.com
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