It was at midnight on December 24th that the strike by Portway employees began, one of the companies that provides assistance to passengers at Portuguese airports. Only on the first day of next year will the strike end and, until then, delays and canceled flights are expected. Employees are fighting for a pay rise but, for now, the impact of the strike at airports is being limited.
In the next few days, if you have a flight scheduled, the tip is to arrive at the airport early and check the status of your flight on the ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal website. Until January 1, 2025, Portway employees are on strike because, to the 4% increase in salaries planned for this year, a further increase of 1% remained to be added, which was not met, even though the unions claim the opposite.
Portway clarifies that, with the 4% increase in salary tables, “the possibility of an additional increase of 1% remained open, conditional on reaching an operational target of 60 thousand flights assisted, on October 31st, set as it is achievable depending on the history and prospects, and it would be a guarantee that Portway would have the financial conditions to increase the tables by another 1%”.
However, the company that mainly provides travel assistance to low-cost airlines explains that “unfortunately, this objective was not achieved and, as such, it was not possible for the company to carry out this additional increase”.
In an interview with , Paulo Duarte, director of the Handling, Aviation and Airport Workers Union (Sitava), says that the strike is having a “reasonable response”, but is not causing major embarrassment, just flight delays. In addition to there not having been a large mobilization on the part of the unions, this is a strike without gatherings at the gate, so Portuguese airports are operating without major constraints.
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