The Portuguese Civil Aviation Pilots’ Union ( SPAC) has issued a 24 hour strike announcement for August 9.

SPAC’s president, Jaime Prieto, made a public statement remarking that the strike is a protest against the “coercion and persecution” within the working environment  at TAP Air Portugal.

The decision was taken at a general union meeting after the conflict between workers and management has intensified in recent weeks.

“We want to end the devastation that we have been seeing this summer. We have reached a situation where passengers pay for a TAP ticket and end up flying on charter companies that they don’t know and that we don’t know,” he said.

TAP Air Portugal has cancelled 37 flights this past week due to the failure in the delivery of six new aircraft that should have been delivered in July. The company has been leasing aircraft and crews from outside carriers to minimize the inconvenience.

TAP Air Portugal is Portugal’s national flag carrier, operating in the United States from Newark (NJ) and Miami (FL).

paj.staff