Lusa workers rejected this Wednesday, in plenary, the wage appreciation counterproposal presented by the administration, deciding to schedule a strike for the end of March and organize regular demonstrations. “The workers of Lusa, meeting in plenary on March 1, 2023, unanimously rejected the counter-proposal presented by the Board of Directors”, reads a resolution, in which they indicate that they will advance with new forms of struggle.
Last week, the administration of the news agency presented a counter-proposal to the unions, which provides for a salary increase of 35 euros, to be carried out in March and retroactive to January, the attribution of a parental allowance and the increase in international daily allowances. for the legal maximum regulation at 89.35 euros, above the 72.72 euros currently charged.
The Board of Directors, chaired by Joaquim Carreira, also proposed revising and negotiating the Company Agreement (AE) with regard to the salary table, updating subsidies, reviewing the seniority system and separating the performance evaluation process from the AE with new rules. On the other hand, it wants to include birthday waivers in the agreement and increase the birthday waiver for descendants up to 14 years and for a full day.
Lusa workers consider that “reliable and public service information […] dictate that it is essential that Lusa maintain standards of respect and appreciation of its workers”. Thus, they decided to schedule a strike for the end of March, whose dates and forms will be defined in a new plenary scheduled for the 15th, and mandated their representatives to meet with the Government, parliamentary groups and the President of the Republic, “in a maximum of 15 days”.
The workers will also start regular demonstrations so that their protest becomes visible. In a note distributed to workers before the plenary session, Joaquim Carreira defended that the salary update was not at issue, but “its size for a reduced budget”.
As he detailed, “Lusa’s budget has 250,000 euros for salary updates which, after deducting seniority payments, promotions and food subsidy, come to 160,000 euros”. According to the same document, the annual impact of 120 euros more on the salary of each worker, which was proposed by the representative organizations, generates a loss of 440,000 euros.
On 3 November, Lusa workers approved a set of claims, which includes a minimum increase of 120 euros in wages, updating the daily meal allowance, paid by card, to the maximum non-taxable amount, the creation of a parental allowance of 100 euros for each child, to be paid together with the remuneration for the month following the return from parental leave, among others.