LISBON (awp/afp) – Dozens of new flights were canceled on Sunday arriving and departing from major Portuguese airports due to a strike at baggage handler Portway, according to unions and the company owned by airport manager ANA , from the French group Vinci.
On the third and last day of this social movement, convened to demand wage increases, 69 flights were canceled at Lisbon and Porto airports (north), Portway management said in a statement.
“During the three days of the strike, the turnout was 14% and airlines canceled 196 flights,” she added.
According to a report provided to the media on Sunday by the vice-president of the National Union of Civil Aviation Workers (Sintac), Pedro Figueiredo, the movement caused a total of “at least 230 flights”.
Among the twenty companies affected by this social movement within the company Portway, a subsidiary of the airport manager ANA, the low-cost carrier Easyjet was the most affected.
The movement also caused disruptions at the airports of Funchal, on the island of Madeira, and Faro, in the tourist region of the Algarve (south).
The strikers demanded “an immediate increase in wages” allowing employees to “regain their purchasing power”, according to a union statement accusing the company of hindering career progression and of not respecting labor law in terms of remuneration. public holidays.
Portway, which employs some 2,500 people, is 100% owned by ANA, a subsidiary of the French group Vinci, which in 2013 obtained the concession for Portuguese airports.
In its assessment of a strike deemed “irresponsible”, the company regretted “the significant damage caused to passengers, companies and Portway, which emerges from this situation in a more fragile commercial and economic position”.
csc/mm