CP suppressed 141 trains out of the 253 scheduled between 00:00 and 08:00 this Friday, due to the 24-hour strike by the carrier’s drivers.
The stoppage of CP drivers, with minimum services enacted, was called by the National Union of Drivers of Portuguese Railways (SMAQ), in protest against the latest proposal for salary increases of 51 euros. this increase represents an average career progression of 3.89% and which the union structure considers “clearly unacceptable”
The company foresees “strong impacts” on circulation and slight disturbances in the remaining days until the 18th, when train drivers will not perform services lasting more than seven and a half hours.
According to an assessment made this morning, of the 253 scheduled trains, 112 were carried out and 141 were canceled (55.7%). The effects of the strike were felt as early as Thursday, with the suppression of 21.5% of the planned connections. Of the 1193 trains scheduled between 00:00 and 20:00 on Thursday, 257 did not arrive.
66 regional trains were planned, but 34 connections were not made, 32 having been carried out. As for urban trains in Lisbon, 115 were planned, 76 were suppressed and 39 carried out. In the urban trains of Coimbra, eight were planned, four were cancelled, the same number of those carried out.
With regard to long-distance trains, 12 were planned, six were suppressed and six were also implemented.
The arbitral tribunal decreed minimum services of around 30% at national level, as well as those necessary for the safety and maintenance of equipment and installations and emergency services and rescue trains.
Until 23:59, the workers go on “a strike to perform any and all work by workers in the categories represented by the SMAQ (with effect from the last hours of Thursday and the first hours of Saturday)”.
Additionally, between 00:00 on Saturday and 23:59 on the 17th, a “work strike is called for all normal daily work periods that have an expected duration of more than seven hours and 30 minutes, for the Driver or Technical Driver categories “.
Between 00:00 on Saturday and 23:59 on the 17th, they carry out a “strike on the performance of work at all normal periods of daily work that imply entering and/or leaving the headquarters between 00:00 and 06:00, for those of Train Driver or Train Driver”. Technician”, and, between 00:00 on the 14th and 23:59 on the 17th, “strike to all normal work periods that have an expected duration of more than six hours, for the Traction Inspector or Chief Traction Inspector categories”.
In February, strikes called by various CP unions led to the suppression of hundreds of trains a day.