Union says TAP’s refusal to negotiate may lead to more strikes

The National Civil Aviation Flight Staff Union (SNPVAC) on Friday again accused TAP management of refusing to negotiate and of “pushing” crew members into strikes that could affect Christmas and the New Year.

“Things are much worse than they were when [on November 3] almost all the cabin crew called for a strike. We gave a cry of revolt at the time, but we gave the company a month to negotiate. What the company chose is legitimate: not to negotiate. But they can’t come every day and say that they are available for dialogue when they are not”, said the president of the SNPVAC, Ricardo Penarroias.

At Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, in Porto, at 8h45 am, the leader stressed that the impact of the strike that is today in its second day “was great” and the adhesion “total”.

Ricardo Penarroias said that the company was carrying out “perhaps an unprecedented case in the history of the country”, which is “on the eve of a strike not to present a proposal to negotiate”, a situation that is, he added, pushing the crew to more forms of struggle.

“In the assembly of the 6th [of December], the cabin crew almost unanimously gave legitimacy to the direction of the union to be able to set a strike notice of at least five days (…). It may occur until January 31, 2023,” he said.

Asked if the union is considering scheduling the strike for Christmas and the New Year, Penarroias pointed out: “It may include or may not include”.

The president of the SNPVAC said that “to date, they have not received any contact to negotiate”, lamenting that “the company has chosen to dialogue with the union via the media”.

Asked about the impact of the two-day strike that ends today, the leader said that “the company has chosen to cancel flights and deflate the strike”, recalling that 301 flights were scheduled for Thursday and 15 flights of minimum service and 40 Portugália flights are taking place.

At Sá Carneiro, where TAP usually operates around 10 flights daily, five flights are scheduled for today, three of which are operated by Portugália and two under the minimum services.

“Contrary to what has been sold, TAP’s current situation has nothing to do with the pandemic. It has to do with a year of bad management. Surely the taxpayers agreed to help TAP, but they did not accept the injection of €3 billion for the deterioration of the working conditions of TAP workers,” he said.

Regarding the demands on the table, Ricardo Penarroias gave a practical example of a couple in which both are cabin crew chiefs.

“The current emergency agreement represents a cut of between €1,200 and €1,400 in the income of a couple of cabin crew. We are talking about a couple who have their life projects, but due to decisions that have nothing to do with reality, lose their stability,” he said.