The pre-strike notice issued by SINTAB, the Union of Workers in Agriculture, Food, Beverages, and Tobacco Industries of Portugal, indicates that the strike at European Seafood Investments Portugal (ESIP) is set to occur from 00:00 to 24:00 on Monday, involving all workers.
The workers are demanding a 15% salary increase or a minimum raise of 150 euros, a reduction in working hours from 40 to 35 hours per week, the implementation of a longevity bonus system, and an increase in vacation days from 22 to 25, as stated by SINTAB representative Mariana Rocha to Lusa news agency.
The employees are advocating for the renegotiation of the collective labor agreement (CLA), which has reportedly not been reviewed since 2017.
Mariana Rocha explained that although each worker has an eight-hour daily schedule, “the workday stipulated in the current CLA is from 07:00 to 20:00,” but “the company does not adhere to it,” opting to create shifts and refusing to implement salary increases unless workers accept extending the workday “from 06:00 to 22:00.”
“In a factory where the majority of workers are women, this is highly destabilizing, and employees are unwilling to relinquish this right and will not agree, as they are fighting for reduced, not increased, work hours,” she added.
ESIP, the largest canned fish factory in Peniche, located in the district of Leiria, and one of the largest in the country, employs around 800 workers, of which 200 are temporary staff.
