Friday's railway workers’ strike is set to paralise the country’s network as no ‘minimum service’ is being provided and no alternative transport is being laid on.
Workers at Comboios de Portugal (CP), Empresa de Manutenção de Equipamento Ferroviário (EMEF) and Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) all demand the better working conditions that they say they have been promised, saying that, "they will be fighting for compliance with this year's agreements, which are not being respected by the government and management.”
The workers say that, "in negotiations with the administrations, with the direct intervention of the Ministries of Planning & Infrastructure, Labour and Finance, agreements were made with the three companies, which in addition to the wage rises for 2018, also established that negotiations will be held to revise existing collective agreements."
In the case of CP, "there was no meeting for effective discussion on any matter," at EMEF, "after a period of negotiation where several matters were discussed and agreed, the process was suspended by the government and management in September without any justification"; and for IP, "there have been negotiations, but as for the discussion of the central issues there has been little progress."
The Federation of Transport and Communications Trade Unions, FECTRANS, stated today that, "Given an equal position of the government for the three companies, it only remains for the workers to respond in a convergent way, regardless of the particularities of each process," trade union speak for ‘all out brothers’ - and not without justification.
Comboios de Portugal announced that, "national train suppression in all services on December 7th is foreseen, and that alternative transportation will not be available.”
The rail company advises passengers that they can request the reimbursement of rail ticket costs if these are submitted within ten days of the end of the strike.