The government has expressed concerns about potential instability in airports, according to Fernando Henriques of the Aviation and Airports Workers’ Union (Sitava). He noted that during a meeting held today, the government conveyed a desire to avoid disruptions although it cannot interfere with the ongoing tender process. The Union of Handling, Aviation and Airports Workers (STHAA) also attended the meeting.
A preliminary report from the tender process revealed that the jury, led by Sofia Simões, awarded a score of 95.2523 to the Clece/South group of the Iberia company. In contrast, Menzies, formerly known as Groundforce, received a score of 93.0526.
During today’s meeting, the unions provided context regarding Menzies’ identification in 2022 as the preferred investor for capitalizing the insolvent company SPdH or Groundforce. “We provided a historical overview from the past three to four years and discussed our significant concerns, focusing on the future of SPdH and its four thousand jobs,” Henriques emphasized.
Henriques stated that the union has commitments secured with Menzies for 2026, particularly concerning the future Company Agreement, including wage tables. These negotiations depend on licensing outcomes.
“If the licenses are not granted to SPdH, it jeopardizes these commitments, potentially leading to significant labor and social instability,” he explained.
The licenses in question will be valid for seven years.
Henriques criticized what he perceives as Clece/South’s lack of understanding of labor issues, raising concerns about their knowledge of sector-specific legislation. “A basic lack of understanding of labor legislation leaves us uneasy,” he said, expressing difficulty in accepting the preliminary report’s conclusions.
The report, issued by the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC), highlighted that one of the criteria for selecting a winner involved presenting frameworks identifying the minimum number of material and human resources allocated for baggage handling, cargo, mail assistance, and runway operations per airport for two theoretical scenarios.
In this theoretical exercise, the Spanish consortium Clece/South scored higher than Menzies, although both had equal scores in other evaluation criteria—material and human resources.
