The Federation of Transport and Communications Unions (Fectrans) expressed concerns in a document, stating that “wages in the transport and communications sector have declined because their growth often falls below the inflation rate and/or the growth of the national minimum wage”.
The Federation pointed out that under the current circumstances, “thousands of workers now earn the national minimum wage”.
“The demand for a 15% wage increase, with at least 150 euros, is justified as it helps differentiate from the national minimum wage and enhances the value of the professions,” the organization emphasized.
The demands also include a 35-hour workweek, an “achievable goal” considering the technical and technological advancements and to promote “better work-life balance”.
The resolution further urged for a reduction in retirement age, noting that “work in the transport, communications, and telecommunications sector is characterized by shift work and irregular hours, in unusual conditions, underground, weather-exposed, impacting workers’ health”.
The assembly of union leaders and delegates also advocated for maintaining the “public component of the sector”, lamenting the Government’s ongoing efforts to convert the social aspect of the transport and communications sector into businesses for economic and financial groups, as evidenced by the attempted privatization of TAP.
According to the signatories of the resolution, there is a need to “strengthen the demand for the defense of the public component of State-Owned Enterprises”, as well as “the demand for the (re)nationalization of companies that were privatized in the transport and communications sector and are essential for providing high-quality public service for the nation and its citizens”.
They argue that “amid worsening living and working conditions, Portuguese workers face a severe offensive against labor rights, seen in over 100 proposals to amend labor laws presented by the AD government”, the document reads.
To advocate for these demands, Fectrans plans to undertake in October “a comprehensive campaign engaging with workers through assemblies, workplace visits, and actions at company gates, to clarify and discuss the Government’s offensive and build up demands”.
The plan also includes mobilizing sector workers for “all action initiatives by CGTP-IN against the labor package, advocating for better wages and reduced working hours”, and promoting the signing of a petition addressed to the prime minister, “rejecting the labor package and demanding its withdrawal, the repeal of damaging labor law provisions, and the increase of wages and rights”, aiming for at least 10,000 signatures.
