PT has been strike-free for ten years but that is coming to an end as irate staff and fully supportive unions are organising protests in the coming weeks in reaction to what they consider to be "the biggest attack ever seen" on workers’ rights.
Billionaire Patrick Drahi’s company, Altice, bought the Portugal Telecom Group in January 2015 for €7.4 billion and it now is run as a subsidiary of Altice NV in the Netherlands.
A workers strike has been called for July 21, the first that the company has had in a decade, with unions united to avoid, what it calls ‘a catastrophe.’
"All the workers of PT Portugal, yesterday, others tomorrow, are confronted with the biggest attack ever seen on their rights and on their jobs," read a union statement sent to newsrooms today.
The serious gripe is the transfer of hundreds of workers from PT to many of its suppliers and subsidiaries.
In addition to the planned strike, the Workers' Commission and STPT union has agreed on a plan with several components, including legal action and a request for intervention from the President of the Republic, the President of the Assembly of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Labour, the Parliamentary Groups that give political support to the Government and the General Directorate of Employment and Labour Relations.
This transfer of workers from Portugal Telecom to other companies, is the single issue. The contracts of more than 100 workers only last week were transferred to companies such as Visabeira, Sudtel and Tnord, with which PT works.
Also, according to the communiqué from the eight unions involved, legal action can be used to try and block this job transfer processes.
On Friday, July 7th, there will be a rally in front of the Labour Ministry in Lisbon, which will be repeated every other day until July 20th.
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