Lisbon, March 5, 2025 (Lusa) - The National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel (SNPVAC) said on Wednesday that TAP's privatisation process must include the collaboration of the unions and warned that if it doesn't, the sale "won't work" again. "Don't make the same mistakes as in the past, [...] without the collaboration and participation of the unions, [the privatisation] won't work, once again," said SNPVAC president Ricardo Penarróias, who was heard today in parliament, at the request of the PS, on the integration of Portugália Airlines into TAP.
The union leader considered it necessary for the unions to be consulted so that those negotiating the sale of the airline understand how TAP works.
"If they continue not to look inwards, then in the end it will be the workers who pay, once again," he emphasised, adding that the SNPVAC “will not agree to anything that is imposed on it”.
Ricardo Penarróias also said that the union representing cabin crew has already approached the three major European airline groups that have expressed an interest in the deal—Lufthansa, IAG, and Air France-KLM—and has not received a response so far. However, the union would first like clarification from the government.
Asked about the end of social peace in the group, which the union recently declared, following the presentation of a new cost allowance scale, which includes a reduction for several destinations, Ricardo Penarróias emphasised that there is communication with the current management, but there are still "different visions".
"After going through three other executive chairmen, of the four, [Luís Rodrigues] is much better than the other three, some of whom were extremely weak, if there is a future for TAP today, this administration has an important role to play," the SNPVAC leader said.
As for the transfer of Portugália to TAP SA, which was completed on 21 January, the union considered it urgent that the labour model that will be applied following the corporate change be presented.
For the SNPVAC, a new model will make it possible to end the duplication of costs in the two companies and the application of regulations resorting to external contracting with "huge costs".
The Independent Union of Airline Pilots (SIPLA) has given notice of a part-time strike at Portugália from 12 to 27 March to "safeguard jobs that are now at imminent risk", according to a statement to which Lusa has had access.
One reason for the dissatisfaction is related to the Regulation on the Recourse to External Contracting (RRCE), created in 1998. This regulation was intended to act as a brake on the contracting of external flights by TAP, including Portugália, which accounts for the largest share. It imposed limits that, if exceeded, reverted in favour of TAP pilots through compensation.
This protocol, used by several European airlines, cost €60 million last year because six extra basic salaries were paid to each TAP pilot, as Expresso reported in May 2024.
The pilots of Portugália, which in 2023 carried out around 25% of TAP's total flights according to the TAP SGPS report, have been criticising the consequences of this protocol and say that it only reinforces that it is "considered an external company", as an official SIPLA source explained to Lusa.
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