The first day of a new partial strike called by the Sindicato Ferroviário da Revision Comercial Itinerante (SFRCI), with special incidence in the ticket offices and revisers of CP, led to the suppression of 20 trains until 08:00, according to the carrier.
In a statement, CP – Comboios de Portugal said that between 00:00 and 08:00 today 20 trains were suppressed, including one long distance, five regional and 14 urban trains from Lisbon.
“The strike declared by the SFRCI will impact train movements throughout the country,” the company noted.
CP informs on its website that due to the strike called by the SFRCI union, for the period between 00:00 on July 06 and 23:59 on August 06, disruptions in rail traffic are expected on all services, with possible impact on the day after the strike period, August 07.
The carrier informs that customers who already have tickets purchased to travel on trains of the Alfa Pendular, Intercity, International, InterRegional and Regional services, will be reimbursed the full value of the ticket or their free replacement for another train of the same category and in the same class.
The partial strike of proofreaders and ticket office workers in CP covers the period in which the World Youth Day is being held in Lisbon.
The revisionists and ticket office workers had already completed a partial strike that began on June 5 and ended on Wednesday, to contest the “lack of equity” in salaries at CP – Comboios de Portugal.
On June 22, the president of SFRCI, Luís Bravo, had said that from today until July 10 the strike is for the seventh hour of workers in Cascais and from July 12 to 18 covers overtime work throughout the country.
Throughout the month the workers will strike on special trains and those with more than eight carriages.
According to Luís Bravo, the strike will affect [in August] the special trains made available by the company for the World Youth Day.
“These special trains are normally made available by the company for special events like concerts and in this case it will affect those of the Youth Day, for which 48 special trains are planned,” he said.
According to the union leader, the workers are “very unhappy” with the situation at the company.
The union has challenged what it says is the “lack of equity in CP” and fears that jobs will be put at risk. The operator has already guaranteed that this will not happen, having reached an agreement with the other unions.
