Portway workers today begin the second strike period, also of two days, in protest for the continuity of collective bargaining negotiations and the payment of holidays on a scale.
Ground handling workers at Portway, whose main client is easyJet, went on strike for the first time on Sunday and Monday, with a membership of around 30%, according to the Aviation and Airport Workers Union (Sitava).
Today, the workers begin the second period of the strike decreed by Sitava, the Union of Workers of the Merchant Navy, Travel Agencies, Freight Forwarders and Fishing (Simamevip), the Aviation and Airport Workers (Sitava), the Airport Handling Technicians (STHA) and the Democratic Union of Airport and Aviation Workers (Sindav).
The workers’ representative structures have also called an indefinite strike on public holidays, for which the unions expect greater adherence, as it is a “focal point” of the conflict between workers and the company.
The unions argue that, after eight months of application of the Company Agreement of (AE2020), which provides that “work done on a public holiday, which is a normal working day, will give rise to an increase of 50% of the corresponding remuneration”, the company decided, “unilaterally, to change the way of calculating the payment of public holidays on a scale, contrary to the spirit that had been agreed (change of the coefficient 1.50 to 0.50)”.
On the other hand, they recall that, between March 2022 and May 2023, a conflict prevention process requested by Portway took place “allegedly with the aim of ‘converging the union structures in the adoption of a single collective regulation instrument’ (a single SA), as well as ‘maintaining a climate of social peace'”, ensuring that “they always participated in this process constructively and in good faith, as they had already been in the 2019/20 negotiation process”.
However, after the 16th negotiation meeting held on 24 May at the Directorate-General for Employment and Labour Relations (DGERT), the unions accuse Portway of, “both by actions and omissions”, being “directing its workers to join a particular organization”, in an attitude that it considers to be “absolutely unqualified”.
Portway said it does not recognize grounds for the strike, guaranteeing “strict” compliance with the Company Agreement (AE) regarding work on public holidays, according to a statement.
