The Arbitration Court decreed minimum services of 20% for the strike at CP — Comboios de Portugal, called by several unions, between 00:00 and 24:00 on July 22nd and 24th.
According to information published on the CP website, minimum services were decreed for urban and regional trains, not covering the rest, with the company warning passengers of the possibility of disruptions to circulation.
According to the same information, there are minimum services decreed for the Regional and Interregional service (Minho, Douro, Leste, Oeste, Beira Baixa and Norte lines — in the latter case from and to Coimbra/Entroncamento) and for urban trains (Azambuja, Coimbra and Guimarães lines).
The strike was called by the unions ASCEF, ASSIFECO, FENTCOP, SINAFE, SINDEFER, SINFA, SINFB, SIOFA, SNAQ, SNTSF, STF and STMEFE, and is expected to affect traffic on the days of the strike.
On its website, CP informs that customers who have already purchased tickets to travel on Alfa Pendular, Intercidades, Internacional, Interregional and Regional trains can request “a refund of the full value of the ticket purchased, or a free exchange for another train of the same category and in the same class”.
Refunds or exchanges can be made on the CP website or at the ticket offices, up to 15 minutes before departure. You can also request a refund up to 10 days after the strike.
The strike was announced earlier this month, in a note from the Federation of Transport and Communications Unions (Fectrans).
These workers were already on strike on June 28th.
For the unions, “it is unacceptable” that CP’s management, after having guaranteed that it would extend to all workers an agreement that was concluded with a union organization, wants to make this conditional on the acceptance of the career regulation proposal.
The Government, CP and the National Union of Portuguese Railway Drivers (SMAQ), which had called a strike between June 27 and July 14, which was suspended, recently reached an agreement. The operator also reached an agreement with the Commercial Itinerant Railway Review Union (SFRCI) regarding the review of careers, including a 1.5% salary increase and an increase in the meal allowance to 9.20 euros.
Fectrans argued that the proposal “increases the versatility of functions and does not value the salary scale”, which it said was a “strategic measure” to recruit new workers and retain current ones.
Source: www.cmjornal.pt
