The Socialist Party cannot be said to be helping much over the TAP strike action planned for between Christmas and New Year, today accusing the government of deliberately antagonising the unions by introducing a ‘civil requisition’ into the heady mix of claim and counterclaim.
This devilish parliamentary instrument means that 70% of TAP’s workers are considered the bare minimum to run the troubled carrier and now have no right to take strike action and must report for work.
The Council of Ministers decided today that the potential holiday disruption to 1,000 flights is serious enough to warrant such a draconian measure last used back in 1999 under socialist Prime Minister António Guterres.
The socialists pounced on this move by the Passos Coelho administration and said today that, "several times this week, the Socialist Party has called for understanding and, through the voice of its Secretary-General António Costa has been willing to talk to the government. From our point of view, getting out of this situation means not privatising TAP." This is the party view as expressed by Rui Paulo Figueiredo.
"The problem is that the government should have established a compromise with the unions, but the government’s only dialogue is about accelerating the privatisation of TAP which is far from having a consensus in Portuguese society. We have a prime minister who is uncompromising, who has an ideological bias against the presence of the State in the economy, against the public management and against the protection of national strategic interests,” according to Figueirido.
The last civil requisition was back in 1999 under socialist Prime Minister António Guterres
The socialists also confessed bemusement over the vacillating views of economy minister Pires de Lima who at first said that privatisation is non-negotiable and later qualified this by saying that this is not an inevitability.
TAP staff still may call in sick en masse during the four day strike period and the chances of those travellers that are able to
New route announced
The government chose today to announce a controversial €7.8 million subsidy for an air service between Bragança in the north of Portugal and Portimão aerodrome in the Algarve (pictured).
This was approved in the same Council of Ministers meeting that has taken such a hard line with TAP’s unions and the muklti-million euro expenditure was not lost on many commentators.
The air route from Bragança to Portimão will be subsidised for three years and is similar to a route that failed miserably.
The Council of Ministers stated that it was authorising "spending on the award of a concession for the provision of scheduled air services on the route between Bragança-Vila Real-Viseu-Cascais-Portimão for a period of three years."
The Economy Ministry made known that this grant will be paid directly to the lucky company running the service, the name of which will be announced after a tendering process in 2015.
The Council of Ministers justified its decision with the need to "ensure the provision of air service between the north-eastern and south of the country" and "the protection of the public interest" on the route between Bragança and Portimão.
To many, the Council of Ministers has failed to justify the need for, or the 'public interest' aspect of the route, so has failed to justify the decision as anything other than another expensive whim.
The government suspended flights between Tras-os-Montes and Lisbon in November 2012, with the argument that Brussels would not authorise direct government funding of the €2.5 million per year it cost to keep the operator flying.
How this latest hand out differs remains to be explained.