(dr) Laura Haanpaa
More than 50 Finance services closed early in the morning and “many more are likely to close” by 1pm. The strike on Thursday and Friday will be “just the first” of several if nothing changes, warns the union.
More than half a hundred of Finance services across the country were closed early in the morning due to the general meeting of workers at the Tax and Customs Authority (AT), according to the Tax Workers’ Union (STI).
Convened by the STI, the general meeting of workers from all AT organic units, in which around 3,000 tax employees are registered, takes place between 09:00 and 13:00so, warns the union, “it is likely that many more Finance services will be closed by the end of the meeting”.
The meeting precedes the AT workers’ strike scheduled for Thursday and Friday and the demonstration scheduled for 1pm on Thursday in Largo do Carmo, in Lisbon. Tax workers demand career enhancement, better working conditions and a review of the salary table.
Services closed
According to information collected by the STI until 9:15 am today, the Finance services in Lisbon 1 and 4, Leiria 1, Peniche, Figueiró dos Vinhos, Marco de Canaveses, Vila do Conde, Castanheira de Pera, Espinho, Ílhavo, were closed, Óbidos , Sever do Vouga, Anadia, Moita, Cantanhede, Aljezur, Beja and Castro Verde, Serpa, Marinha Grande, Covilhã, Santo Tirso, Cinfães and Seixal 1.
Still closed were the Finances of Terras de Bouro, Castro Daire, Almodóvar, Mafra, Monforte, Castelo de Paiva, Alvito, Mondim de Basto, Loures 1, Barreiro, Barcelos, Mora, Aveiro-1, Alijó, Albufeira, Aljezur, Lagoa, Loulé 1, Alvaiázere, Sertã, Marinha Grande, Paredes, Moita, Guimarães, Mangualde, Tomar, Alcobaça, Leiria, Chaves and Golegã.
“To sum up, AT has hit bottom”
On Monday for the eventual closure of Finance services across the country and potential constraints on service at ports and airports throughout the morning.
Speaking to the Lusa agency on October 15th – the date on which this week’s two-day strike was scheduled – the president of the STI said that “the main reason for discontent is that the Government considers all State careers to be very important, but AT, which has to find resources so that other careers can work, considers it to be irrelevant”.
According to Gonçalo Rodrigues, another of the tax officials’ demands is the revision of the salary table, which the union says is “worse than what they had in 1999”.
“To summarize, AT has hit bottom”, the union leader then stated, warning that the strike on Thursday and Friday will be “just the first” of several, if nothing changes in the meantime.
The STI claims to be the most representative union structure in the sector, “with more than 70% of workers across the entire AT unionized within it”.
