TAP workers outside parliament call for dialogue

Hundreds of TAP workers are gathered on Wednesday in front of the Portuguese Parliament in Lisbon calling for dialogue and transparency as part of the group’s restructuring process.

The initiative was promoted by the “TAP numbers have a face” movement, with no link to the unions representing the airline’s workers, following news of redundancies and wage cuts that have been announced.

“We want transparency” is one of the slogans of the workers gathered in front of the parliament, which brings together pilots, cabin crew and ground workers, who are not on duty today.

Elsa Fragata, a TAP cabin crew member and organizer of the gathering said, “it is not just a TAP problem, but a national problem. 10,000 jobs depend directly on TAP, and it is very important that people are aware of this”.

The workers complain that they have to be heard by the airline’s management and the government in relation to the company’s restructuring plan, and that they want “to be part of the solution”.

“We are currently in a situation of blind cutting,” lamented Elsa Fragata, referring to the advanced numbers of redundancies that will take place, which, if they materialise, will be over 3,000 jobs.

Workers also argue that the company’s predictions for a recovery in the aviation sector are not up to date with the latest figures from Eurocontrol, as the company is predicting a recovery in 2025 and the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation recently announced that it expects a recovery in 2023.

Today’s protest organization fears that the reduction of workers at TAP will lead to a failure to meet demand when the sector picks up and demand returns to 2019 levels.

TAP’s restructuring plan has to be submitted to the European Commission by 10 December, and is a requirement of the European Commission for a state loan of up to 1.2 billion euros to deal with the company’s difficulties arising from the impact of the pandemic on the aviation sector.