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The accident at the Glory Elevator in Lisbon on Wednesday night (3/9), which left 17 dead, exposes the precariousness of public transport in Portugal.
The tragedy was possibly caused by the breakdown of the cable that connected the two cabins of the system, whose maintenance had been outsourced to a private company – a decision criticized for years by the unions of Carris, a municipal company responsible for transportation in the capital.
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The situation of public transport in Portugal is delicate: not only there is a lack of qualified personnel, but also salaries are low and most jobs are precarious.
The historian and labor relations specialist Raquel Varela, from the New University of Lisbon, points out that the accident reveals an “absolutely explosive situation” in public services. According to the teacher, there is a lack of qualified professionals, low wages and excess of subcontractations, which compromises the safety of workers and users.
The expert denounces the abandonment of public transport and the poor conditions of workers in the city of Lisbon. According to the researcher, studies show serious risks in various sectors such as ports, airports (Portuguese air transport, TAP) and urban trains – the Metro (Lisbon Metro) and the National Train Company (CP).
“Since the maintenance of TAP, in the flight and cabin staff. In the Lisbon Metro, in the CP drivers. In all of them we point to significant risks to workers and the population who uses these services due to working conditions, which are highly degrading,” says the researcher, citing situations in which workers face hours of up to 16 hours.
Raquel Varela states that the problem is a direct result of the European Union (EU) rules, which make it difficult to hire public servants with decent wages.
“The EU allows subcontracting, but makes it difficult to hire well -paid civil servants. And therefore, all this is an absolutely explosive situation, where people begin to come to the conclusion that the state, instead of protecting them, is a threat to your life,” says Raquel Varela.
“Criminal policy for the degradation of public services”
She also criticized the lack of investment in the sector and warned of the impact of the emigration of specialized professionals, especially on the area of mechanics. “It is an absolutely criminal policy of public services degradation with impact on maintenance of transport. It is a highly specialized work that requires cohesive teams and respect for workers,” he argues.
The Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, and the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Coins, reported that the responsibilities are being cleared, but there are still no political consequences. For Raquel Varela, coins should resign, and the direction of Carris (a company that manages the Portuguese capital transport system) should be held criminally responsible, if negligence is proven in maintenance.
“This tragedy has killed the driver and more than a dozen people. It is a completely drifting country, which endangers its own citizens and the foreigners who visit it – except the very rich, who walk with a driver and private jet,” concludes Raquel Varela.
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