Total number of cars here [estação de recolha da] “Across Norte and Francos there were 370 buses leaving, 210 here and 160 from Francos. At this moment, 103 have left from both sides, so the turnout is 75%.”
José Manuel Silva was speaking at the door of the Sociedade de Transportes Coletivos do Porto (STCP) assembly station on Via Norte, in São Mamede de Infesta (Matosinhos, Porto district), where he met a few dozen workers.
According to the coordinator of the STRUN union, which called the strike, the figures recorded shortly before 9am mean that “what is working is the minimum services”.
Lusa asked STCP about the numbers participating in the strike and is awaiting a response.
José Manuel Silva also stated that although only STRUN called the strike, and there were about five unions in the STCP and non-union workers, the commitment to the strike was general.
He stressed that “the workers are the ones who decided in the general session. In the general session there were workers from all unions, and today there are workers from all unions standing still.”
STRUN refused to sign the management’s proposed 4.7% salary increase, demanding 8%.
The company gave 2% in January because of the minimum wage, because it exceeded the driver jobs, and now it is giving another 2.7%, or 4.7%, even though [aumentos nos] “The minimum wage is 53 euros,” he told Lusa.
José Manuel Silva said he expected “practically nothing” from the current administration of the STCP, led by Cristina Pimentel, but he “pointed the finger”, in particular, at director Rui Saraiva.
“The administrator here is not even the president, it is the administrator Roy Saraiva, he is stubborn. It is the word that is said to him. He is the one who knows, he is the one who speaks, in the meetings he is almost like that. It is impossible to talk to him,” the STRUN coordinator sees.
The union leader told Lusa that Rui Saraiva “wants to show shareholders, the chambers, that he can control the workers with little money, and that is not true, because they always lose drivers.”
He stressed that “if he continues to be stubborn, the workers are here to provide new answers.”
“It’s not just the drivers” who are on strike, but also “official and administrative workers,” said STCP workers’ committee coordinator João Paulo Silva.
STCP announced on Friday that during the strike period, minimum services are guaranteed, covering day and night services and the entire network at dawn.
During daytime service (between 06:00 and 21:00) lines 200, 201, 204, 205, 207, 208, 305, 500, 502, 600, 602, 700, 701, 702, 704, 801, 901/906, 903, 907, and at night: 200, 204, 205, 305, 502, 600, 602, 700, 701, 702, 801, 901/906, 903, 907.
On the early morning network, all flights on lines 1M, 2M, 3M, 4M, 5M, 7M, 8M, 9M, 10M, 11M, 12M, 13M will be covered.
