Mariana Murtagua, business coordinator, defended on Tuesday that it was necessary to “tell easyJet that Portugal is not a second-class country”, arguing that the government could not allow this company to “break the law regarding the right to strike”.
In the last five days of the EasyJet crew’s strike, Mariana Murtagua went to Lisbon airport to show solidarity with these workers, criticizing the airline for preferring to “cancel flights and affect their work rather than meet and provide working conditions”.
“It is necessary to say to EasyJet that Portugal is not a second-class country. You cannot come to Germany, France or the UK and pay your workers two, three thousand, four thousand euros and then come to Portugal, and for more hours of work, pay a minimum wage or pay a salary of one thousand euros,” he says.
In the opinion of the BE chief, in addition to the airline, “the government has responsibilities.”
He said, “The government cannot allow a corporation of this size, with such responsibility, having taken over Portela ‘jobs’, to treat its workers as such and, above all, to break the law and break the law with regard to the right to strike.”
For Mariana Murtagua, it is necessary to “increase the wages of these workers” and the cabin crew on strike is “absolutely right”.
It is necessary to “challenge the government to package with easyJet, comply with the law and pressure easyJet to know that Portugal is not a second-class country. You have to pay a decent wage here.”
The BE coordinator also stated that Portugal should be rejected as a “low-wage economy”, seeing easyJet as an example of this type of economy.
He criticized “a large company, which arrives in Portugal, says it is a pioneer, sets up shop in Lisbon airport, gets ‘slots’ that were from TAP and then pays its workers undeserved wages”.
Mortagua also condemned the company’s “intransigence about striking”, accusing it of “coercing workers not to strike, and using illegal methods to try to prevent the effects of the strike”.
The president of the National Union of Civil Aviation Personnel (SNPVAC) today urged EasyJet to make an “at least workable” proposal to cabin crew, which has been on strike since Friday with a 90% compliance rate.
“No one takes the hit lightly. We are sorry for the inconvenience we cause to passengers. It is important that the company realizes that with this wear and tear it is not going anywhere and harm all parties involved, and that it makes a serious proposal that we can say is viable,” said Ricardo Benaroyas.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, in the last five days of the strike, which has led to hundreds of trips and calls being canceled, the SNPVAC president lamented that the company had “chose to leave the negotiating table,” ensuring that the union and workers are ready to resume dialogue.
The company left the negotiating table. We never go out. We hope that after the strike, the company will present an offer that is closer to what we want.”
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