The management of 67-year-old printing company 'Litográfica do Sul' in Vila Real Santo António met print workers on Monday to inform them that the company is applying for insolvency.
If the application is accepted by the court, the judge will appoint an insolvency practitioner who will run the company and decide on its future.
António Hilário from the representing union said the he already has asked for a meeting with the ministries of the economy and labour.
"We will continue to fight so that the company does not close. But if it does close, we will insist that the workers receive all that they are entitled to," said Hilário.
Workers have yet to receive their March salaries and have been close to idle since mid-January due to a lack of paper and ink to fulfill orders.
Management now has met the council, after missing the meeting scheduled for last Thursday, and mayor Luís Gomes checked that the government had been contacted to see what help is available.
The case has reached parliament as the Left Bloc has asked the Ministry of Economy about the probable dismissal of the 44 print workers.
The Lefties demanded to know "that efforts will be made by the government to maintain the company and its 44 jobs" fearing a collective dismissal following insolvency proceedings.
On March 27th, workers were informed that the management had no money with which to pay March salaries and that negotiations were ongoing with 'an investor' in order to keep the company open, also that if these negotiations failed, the company would close its doors and the workers would be subject to collective dismissal.
The company could go for a Special Revitalisation Process but all hope seems to have ebbed away with even optimists agreeing that there is no viable future, despite around 90 print orders waiting to be fulfilled.
The company’s situation was outlined to the Vila Real de Santo António council which called for urgent action by the council and the Government in order to safeguard jobs.
This call for ‘urgent action’ clearly has come to nothing as the council knows that there is little legally that it can do despite agreeing that the company is fundamentally important to the municipality of Vila Real de Santo António.
