Good news for anyone booked to fly through Portugal: the Menzies workers' strike, which was set to take place across 76 days between 3 September and 2 January, has been called off.
On Thursday, workers at PdH/Menzies voted to cancel the strike, stating that the imposed minimum service requirements made it impossible to exercise their right to strike effectively.
The industrial action had been called by SIMA (the Union of Metal and Related Industries) and STA (the Transport Union), targeting Menzies (formerly Groundforce), the company responsible for ground handling services at Portuguese airports.
However, Portugal's Arbitration Court, under the Economic and Social Council, ruled that minimum service levels had to be maintained. SIMA "strongly denounced the decision of the Arbitration Court regarding the strike at SPdH/Menzies", guaranteeing that what was imposed is not minimum services since they require ensuring "around 80 per cent of normal operations".
The court’s ruling specifically mandated 100 per cent service for domestic flights (mainland and islands) and 35 per cent for international flights. In a statement, SIMA said the decision made it impossible for workers to exercise their legal right to strike and called it a “real attack on the right to strike of Portuguese workers in general and of that company in particular".
The union also warned that "other forms of protest are already being considered," though it did not provide further details.
