"The board of directors remains committed to social dialogue with the representative structures of the workers, contributing to a sustainable and harmonious balance of the company, reinforcing the labor rights of its employees, and maintaining the commitments assumed in the current company agreement," said EMEL, in a note sent to the Lusa agency.

Between Tuesday and Thursday, EMEL workers will hold a partial strike to demand better working conditions, accusing the administration and the Lisbon City Council of not resuming the discussion of the list of demands.

The protest action was called by the Union of Commerce, Office and Service Workers of Portugal (CESP) and will start at 5:00 am on Tuesday. The strike will be two hours per shift, between Tuesday and Thursday.

In previous statements to the Lusa agency, Orlando Gonçalves, from CESP, explained that the negotiation of the list of demands is at stake, accusing the administration of not yet having resumed discussions with the unions, and the workers are still waiting for the company, which is 100% owned by the Lisbon City Council, to fulfill the commitments made in 2023 and that were not implemented.

In addition to the salary increase, the implementation of night shifts is one of the issues that most concerns EMEL workers, said Orlando Gonçalves.

In the note sent to Lusa, EMEL guarantees that it will implement and comply "in full with the company agreement negotiated less than a year ago with all the representative structures of the workers, namely CESP, SINTAP and SITESE".

Within the scope of this agreement, the company adds, in 2023 a 10% general salary increase was given and other concrete measures have been taken, namely the increase in the food allowance, the increase in the 'ceilings' for health insurance coverage, hardship allowances for workers in services that were not contemplated, transportation allowance through the allocation of the Navegante pass to all employees and the allocation of vacation days above those provided by law, among other measures.

For this year, it is also mentioned, the EMEL administration met with the unions at the beginning of the year and increases were granted "to all workers with retroactive effects to January, in the minimum amount of 52.63 euros".

"Regarding the implementation of a generalized framework of night shifts, which competes with the current performance evaluation system, EMEL recalls that the commitment of the board of directors for 2024 is to assess the conditions of its applicability", emphasizes the company.

Also according to unionist Orlando Gonçalves, the strike will affect inspections and may force the closure of some stores and the Graça funicular.

Contacted by Lusa, a source from the Lisbon City Council said that the municipality "supports dialogue in resolving labor disputes", but stressed that the local authority does not have the competence to "initiate these negotiations".

This competence, he added, belongs to the EMEL board of directors.

EMEL has around 700 employees.

Read Also: EMEL workers hold partial strike between Tuesday and Thursday (Portuguese version)