Portway, owned by Portugal’s airports operator ANA, has ‘let go’ 12 workers at Faro airport to the consternation of their union and at a time when any threat of industrial action could compound the damage of the pending TAP strike.
Portway, the ground handling company of ANA, dismissed the 12 Faro workers who were employed to operate the telescopic bridges that connect to aircraft to let passenger on and off.
Asked about the dismissal of these workers, official sources at ANA confirmed that "Portway paid for an operating service for the telescopic bridges at Faro Airport under a contract to provide airport services which ended on April 20th and the directors of the airport decided not to renew the contract” for these specialist workers.
Following that decision, "Portway was forced to terminate all labour contracts of workers involved in this activity."
Portway provides ground handling at Lisbon, Oporto, Faro and Funchal airports and is owned by ANA, in turn owned by the French company Vinci.
The Union of Aviation and Airports Workers (SITAVA) is not best pleased and considers the job losses "a concealed dismissal" and already has lodged a stiff complaint at the Authority for Working Conditions (ACT) and at the Ministry of Labour.
"We will do everything to reverse this situation that, for now, only affects Faro airport, but this seems like a warning because the company does not like workers who are demanding better working conditions," according to union representative Fernando Henriques.
