Delayed salaries and lay-off: crisis on the Conta Lá channel, which arrived on television in 2025

A plan to avoid the “atomic bomb” of collective dismissals was announced by the former director of information at TVI.

The television channel Account therewhich has been broadcasting on cable since 2025, will resort to the temporary suspension of employment contracts or reduction of hours (‘lay-off’), in a restructuring to reduce costs, in the context of unpaid wages.

The information was passed on to workers by the CEO, Sergio Figueiredoin an email sent on Friday, to which Lusa had access.

“In September, with the 15th as a reference, the project enters a new phase, achieving means it never had to accelerate investments and fulfill Conta Lá as it was designed. […] The question is ‘how to survive until then’? What has to be done so that the collapse is not drastic and definitive”, says the letter.

The executive committee said that the solution it intends to implement “immediately” is a ‘lay-off’ process, as it understands that it “protects people and the company better”, avoids the “atomic bomb” of collective dismissal, keeps workers linked and is reversible at any time.

“Reducing the scale of costs is vital. We have to go back to being less, to be more again”, he highlighted.

The former TVI information director also pointed out that the delay in payment of May salaries is due to the lack of “sufficient funds to pay everyone”, and it was possible to regularize the situation approximately 40 workers“but the majority still do not receive what is owed to them”.

“As the same mistake is not made a second time (and although we were once again assured of payment by the 7th of a sum that allows us to settle all salaries and service payments for the month of May), the only possible date to be mentioned for the settlement of our accounts is July 31st”, said Sérgio Figueiredo, guaranteeing that the administration continues to “do everything to bring forward” this date.

The company assured that it will cooperate with workers who, in extreme cases of financial difficulties, want to leave quickly to look for an alternative job that guarantees an immediate source of income and said that in the next 12 weeks it is “critical” to find a range of programs that, “intelligently and at low cost, create the feeling that there is always something new every day”.

“I am aware that a company that is unable to pay its people cannot require them to work normally, especially when there is no absolute certainty regarding the date on which the first payment will take place. What I am saying is that you are exempt from fulfilling the obligations that the employment contract binds you to, as of Monday”, explained the executive president.

Lusa tried to contact Sérgio Figueiredo, but it has not been possible so far.

The cable television channel currently has the collaboration of some well-known names in communication in Portugal, such as Rita Ferro Rodrigues, Júlio Magalhães and Margarida Pinto Correia.