Lisbon’s municipal pest control services are today being affected by a strike by workers, with membership exceeding 90%, a source from the Lisbon Municipal Workers’ Union (STML) told Lusa.
“The workers are holding a 24-hour strike today to demand a normalization of working hours and the reinforcement of human resources. This service is not being provided in the city today. Adherence to the strike is over 90%,” Nuno Almeida, from the STML, told Lusa.
The representative said that the workers will deliver a resolution with the workers’ demands to Lisbon City Hall this morning. Lusa questioned the municipality about the strike and is still awaiting a response.
On February 5, the employees held a sit-in at the premises of the Municipal Directorate of Urban Hygiene and handed their bosses a petition.
On that day, the managers of the sector made a commitment that they would receive a response to the workers’ demands by the end of February.
“As they didn’t get a response, they went on a three-hour strike on March 20, with workers gathering at their workplace, the Valsassina Cleaning Station in Marvila,” said Nuno Almeida.
The Integrated Pest Control Service (SCIP) is a service of the Urban Cleaning Division, part of the municipality’s Urban Hygiene Department.
“The workers are demanding equal rights with the rest of the cleaning and urban hygiene workers in terms of working hours. The SCIP are working seven hours a day, while the cleaning and urban hygiene workers work six,” said the union official.
Nuno Almeida recalled that SCIP workers have long been demanding the same working hours as their colleagues. A new timetable, he stressed, would allow for a higher quality public service on the one hand and, on the other, the safeguarding of the “right to reconcile professional, personal and family life”.
The workers are also demanding more human resources: “We’re talking about 16 workers who have to cover the whole city. They deal with pests such as rats, cockroaches, pigeons and bees, for example. This is clearly not enough for a city like Lisbon.”
The union recalled that the SCIP intervenes through regular and punctual actions, in the sewage network and on the surface, in public space, on municipal property or in homes where there are unhealthy situations, at the request of health authorities, parish councils or other entities.
