Workers at the Sociedade de Transportes Coletivos do Porto (STCP) will strike between 00:00 tomorrow, July 22, and 02:00 a.m. on the 23rd, after management failed to respond to a proposed salary review. Speaking to Lusa, STCP workers’ committee coordinator João Paulo Silva confirmed that the strike has ended, as has the deadline for management to respond to a salary review of at least 8%, which was approved on June 28.
“We will go on strike for 26 hours so that we can take over the night shift,” he added, noting that the decision to strike came from STRUM – Sindicato Transportes Rodoviários Urbanos Norte. On the day of the proposal discussion, about 400 workers met in a general session to discuss the wage update in the 2024 basic schedule, changes to the Professional Development System (SEP) and compliance with the company agreement.
At the time, João Paulo Silva explained to Lusa that the workers considered the salary update made by the STCP management insufficient – 2% in January and 4.7% in April – arguing that the increase cannot be less than 8%. The workers are also demanding changes to the professional development system “in the name of the system’s functions, without harming the evaluation criteria or questioning the current mechanisms.”
They also demand “full respect” of the company’s agreements, “without interpretative changes, i.e. justification of absence, sole agent and assistance in sickness”. “We give the company until July 4 to respond to these three points, and if it does not respond, the unions are authorized, if they wish, to go into struggle, to go ahead with a 24-hour strike from the beginning,” the coordinator added afterwards.
