CP suppressed 59 trains out of the 253 scheduled between 00:00 and 08:00 this Monday due to the carrier’s train drivers’ strike, according to a statement sent by the company to Lusa.
CP – Comboios de Portugal indicates that 67 regional trains were planned, but 24 connections were not made, 43 having been carried out.
In the urban ones in Porto, 54 were scheduled for that period, 47 were carried out and seven were suppressed. With regard to long-distance trains, 11 were planned, one was suppressed and 10 were carried out.
The strike was called by the National Union of Drivers of the Portuguese Railways (SMAQ) against the latest proposal for salary increases of 51 euros, which represents an average career progression of 3.89%, which the union structure considers “clearly unacceptable” .
The workers started the strike to perform any and all work in the categories represented by the SMAQ, from the last hours of Thursday until the early hours of next Saturday, March 18th.
From 00:00 on Saturday until 23:59 on the next Friday (the 17th), workers will carry out a “work strike at all normal daily work periods that have an expected duration of more than seven hours and 30 minutes, for the Machinist or Technical Machinist categories”.
According to the union, from 00:00 on Saturday and until 23:59 on Friday, they carry out “a work strike at all normal daily work periods that involve entering and/or leaving the headquarters between 00:00 and 06:00, to those of Machinist or Technical Machinist”, and, between 00:00 on Tuesday and 23:59 on Friday, “strike at all normal work periods that have an expected duration of more than six hours, for the Traction Inspector categories or Chief Traction Inspector”.
The arbitral tribunal decreed minimum services of around 30% at national level, as well as what is necessary for the safety and maintenance of equipment and installations and emergency services and rescue trains. In February, strikes called by several CP unions led to the suppression of hundreds of trains a day.