In front of the Ritz Hotel, in downtown Lisbon, workers placed a 'cartoon' that reads "Navigator vs. Workers, Mission zero increases" and they shout "we want salary increases" and "negotiation yes, imposition no". "What is felt on the factory floor is widespread discontent, contrary to what they paint, that there is a good atmosphere. No, there isn't", said Hugo Moreira, a worker at the Figueira da Foz factory and union delegate, at the microphone of the gathering. According to what Mário Matos, leader of Fiequimetal (Inter-Union Federation of Metallurgical, Chemical, Electrical, Pharmaceutical, Cellulose, Paper, Graphic, Press, Energy and Mining Industries, affiliated with CGTP), explained to Lusa, the company applied the agreement it made at Navigator Company with a union to all workers of the Navigator UWF group by management act. As a result, what happened was an anticipation of career progression (dependent on evaluation and in some cases with increases of a few euros) when, he said, one thing is career and another is improving salary tables and there were no increases there. In the salary tables - the main object of the annual salary negotiations - there was no increase, he said, adding that this happens when 2023 was the second best year ever for Navigator. "The company sells 6% increases to the media. Where are they? What happened was the anticipation of the career plan. The shareholders' goal is that there are zero increases for workers", he said at the microphone of the gathering. The coordinator of the Navigator Papel Setúbal Workers' Committee, Marcos Oliveira, considered that this is a "conscious and serious protest" that should make the company's management reflect, especially after having ignored the decisions of the workers in the various plenary sessions held in January and March, and return to dialogue with the unions. "The corporate bodies of Navigator, Semapa and the shareholders should be quite concerned because this protest is proof that completely wrong decisions were made and it is necessary to sit down at the table and reverse these decisions", he said. A worker from Setúbal who did not want to give his name, because he said he fears reprisals, also stressed that the "annual increase was zero". "We are there to work and on rotating shifts, rotating breaks, vacations scheduled by them, one weekend off per month and zero increase and there are still unfair things at the level of the annual bonus, such as 2.5 salaries for bosses and 0.45 for us", he told Lusa. Fiequimetal will ask the company to return to negotiations in the coming days. If the answer is not positive, the workers will meet to evaluate new forms of struggle. According to the unions, the strike scheduled for today was not intended to paralyze the factories, but to allow workers from the Setúbal, Figueira da Foz, Aveiro factories to be present at the gathering. Present at the gathering, the general secretary of CGTP, Tiago Oliveira, urged workers to fight and said that shareholders do not know what it is like to live with 1,000 euros when they meet in a hotel where the night costs 1,200 euros. "The only source of income that we have is our work, our salary. If 150 million euros come out of our source of income for a few [in dividends] and a ball of nothing for thousands, that cannot be", he said. Members of the PCP and BE were also present in a show of support. Navigator held its annual general meeting today, with all proposals being approved, an official source told Lusa. Among the proposals were the 2023 accounts (profits of 275 million euros, 30% less than the 392 million euros in 2022) and the distribution of 150 million euros in dividends. [News updated at 3:25 pm] Read Also: Navigator workers on strike on Friday for salary increases (Portuguese version)