“Better a worse month than the rest of your life like this” is the slogan of this strike, organized by the Sindicato das Indústrias Metalúrgicas e Afins (SIMA) and the Sindicato dos Transportes (ST), which is also scheduled for four weekends in August.
“We have been with this administration for about a year, and with the insolvency administrators before that, trying to ensure salaries in this company, base wages are equal to or above the national minimum wage,” explained Carlos Araújo from SIMA to journalists, accusing the company of “illegality” and “immorality.”
According to the union delegate, there are several cases of workers with a base salary below 870 euros (current national minimum wage), some for over five years at the company. This was one of the reasons for the strike planned during Easter, which was called off after a promise to advance negotiations at the Directorate-General for Employment and Labor Relations (DGERT).
The union stated that since then, “the company has not moved an inch in terms of gains for the workers” and three meetings were scheduled at DGERT, but “all were canceled by the company due to lack of schedule.”
“This is not a [negotiation] process; this is kicking the can down the road and postponing all necessary actions,” accused Carlos Araújo.
The official explained that a worker in the category of ground assistance operator, which forms the majority at Menzies, joins the company earning 600 euros as a base salary and takes about 62 months to reach the current minimum wage.
“The carrot will always be 30 meters ahead,” stressed Carlos Araújo.
“We always start at the beginning with 600 euros base, ‘full-time,’ and it increases, but there are specific cases where it takes time to climb the ladder, people complain, there are no responses, then emails are sent, they come here in person, but nothing is resolved. We want to change that; we are a bit fed up with always receiving the same,” said one worker who preferred to remain anonymous, having been with the company for five years and earning a base salary of 845 euros, which is 25 euros below the national minimum wage.
For Paulo Henriques, who has been with the company for 25 years and currently earns a base salary of 1,400 euros, the salary is not the only complaint: “the working conditions are terrible, for example the bar closed four months ago and to this day people have to eat from vending machines, those packaged sandwiches. This is very hard work; for instance, staff face [temperatures of] 50 degrees on the tarmac in Lisbon, besides the rain, and the workers need to be nourished.”
Nelson Bernardo, a delegate from SIMA, added that the allowance for being exposed to weather conditions is 27.5 euros monthly, also lamenting the lack of parking for the workers and the absence of lockers to store a clean change of clothes. “This is the sad part of aviation; we are used to seeing the ‘glamour’ and the dream of planes, but on the ground in Portugal, this is the reality,” he lamented.
By mid-morning, the atmosphere in the arrivals and departures areas at Lisbon airport was similar to a normal operation day, but the flight boards indicated several delays of over an hour and a few canceled flights.
SIMA hopes that the impact of the strike will become more significant throughout the day. “The delays observed so far are limited by the crew wait time, […] but a one-hour delay here could result in the cancellation of the return departure,” explained Carlos Araújo.
