In statements to Lusa, Nuno Almeida, leader of the Union of Workers of the Municipality of Lisbon (STML), explained that the street sweepers scheduled a rally for today, the day on which the local authority called an extraordinary session of the Parish Assembly, which has as its only item the commemorations of the 50th anniversary of April 25.

"This is a long process that has been dragging on for a long time, and the most acute point of the struggle, up to now, was expressed in the strike of February 19 (...) today the workers will express their dissatisfaction with the decision of the president and her intransigence", he explained.

The street sweeper workers of the Junta de Freguesia da Penha de França will gather at 7:30 pm in the space between the entrance to the Penha de França swimming pool and the headquarters of the junta.

"The action, which will not be a protest, [since] we will not ruin the April 25 session for the executive, nor interfere, but will make the other political forces that have seats in the Parish Assembly and the parishioners who attend aware of the dissatisfaction", stressed Nuno Almeida.

At issue is the decision of the president of the junta, Sofia Dias (PS), who on March 19 committed to the union "to send, in the following week, a formal response on the matters that the workers want to see normalized" and only on April 16 was this same position conveyed, he explained.

"The president shows intransigence and unavailability at all levels, which is incomprehensible in the purpose of resolving the dispute that exists between the junta and the street sweeper workers", said Nuno Almeida.

There are two rights that the street sweepers want to see resolved: compliance with the ACEP [Collective Agreement of Public Employers], namely compensatory rest [time off] for work on holidays, in addition to payment, and payment of the subsidy for insalubrity and hardship during vacations.

According to Nuno Almeida, both "represent very little economically for a parish council", recalling that there are 14 holidays in a year and the workers do not all work on holidays, considering that payment is "not unfeasible".

Nuno Almeida also recalled that, contrary to what the president stated, "these rights have already been enshrined and are a reality for the urban hygiene workers of the Lisbon City Council and also for the street sweepers of most of the parish councils in the city".

The unionist also recalled that the resolution of the dispute "is not based on different interpretations of a legal nature, but rather on political will".

The workers have been making their demands known, first with a rally on November 9, in front of the junta headquarters, then with a demonstration through the streets of the parish, on December 13.

On February 19, they carried out what was "the first strike in the history of the city of Lisbon by street sweepers of a parish council and, according to Nuno Almeida, "they will not stop there".

"There will certainly be other actions, unless the president makes another decision, but almost certainly, the workers are very united and it is an issue that affects their dignity. There are workers from juntas and from the city council who already have these rights assumed and being fulfilled and these continue without these rights guaranteed", he pointed out.

According to the unionist, there are about 30/35 street sweeper workers from the Junta da Penha de França affected.

At the time of the strike on February 19, and in a written response to questions from Lusa about the workers' demands, the Junta de Freguesia da Penha de França only stated that, "as conveyed to the union structures, in accordance with the legislation in force, the supplementary remuneration for hardship and insalubrity can only be attributed for each day of work effectively performed in environmental conditions harmful to the health of the workers, and therefore, the Junta de Freguesia da Penha de França is not authorized to attribute the aforementioned supplement during the vacation period".

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