Lisbon, March 27, 2025 (Lusa) - The union representing pilots working for Portugália, the regional airline unit of Portugal's national flag carrier, TAP, has decided to call a renewed part-time strike on TAP flights, from 28 March to 11 April, an official at the Independent Union of Airline Pilots (SIPLA) told Lusa.
After the strike that took place from 12 to 27 March, which saw an average of 95% "or higher" participation on some days, the union said, members voted to go ahead and give notice of a new strike to take place between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m. from 28 March to 11 April, said the SIPLA official.
Portugália is schedued to operate 28 to 29 flights for TAP in the time slot in which the strike took place, but on these days "only one or two were operated" apart from the obligatory connection between Lisbon and Terceira, in the Azores.
The same union official made a "positive" assessment of the strike, revealing that there had been several meetings with the TAP management, many by telephone. However, since the union's members believe that "there are still no guarantees of stability" they have decided to renew the strike.
"There has been progress on some issues, but when they send the wording of the proposals, they are altered" from what was discussed at the meetings, alleged the union official, adding that the text is “without any concrete commitment that would guarantee the future of Portugália pilots.
"In just one month, management has contradicted its own statements, proving that the only thing that has really changed is its disinformation strategy," the official lamented.
SIPLA also revealed that it had been told that TAP would reduce Portugália's fleet from 19 to 17 aircraft, and that there would be no guarantee of workers being integrated into the parent company.
Although Portugália was recently transferred from TAP SGPS to TAP SA as part of moves to reprivatise the airline, "nothing is going to change" where employees' status is concerned, the union lamented, adding that "they fear for the future of the company" - which currently employs almost 900 workers.
The union also stated that "it has already filed a complaint with the Portuguese Competition Authority" for alleged violation of the competition rules in the Regulation on the Use of External Contracts (RRCE), and is also preparing to make a submission to the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition.
One of the reasons for the dissatisfaction relates precisely to the RRCE, created in 1998 with the intention of acting as a brake on the contracting of external flights by TAP, including Portugália, which accounts for the largest share - imposing limits that, if exceeded, revert in favour of TAP pilots through the payment of compensation.
These rules, which are used by several companies in Europe, led to costs of €60 million last year as a result of the payment of six extra basic salaries to each TAP pilot, as Expresso newspaper reported in May 2024.
Portugália pilots, who in 2023 carried out around 25% of TAP's total flights according to the TAP SGPS report, have been criticising the consequences of the rules and argue that they only reinforces the fact that it is "considered an external company" despite being part of the group.
SIPLA's leadership sent a proposal to TAP's management which provided for the "replacement of current aircraft, the acquisition of new aircraft, labour guarantees, protection from job cuts due to fleet reduction, the definition of a minimum number of aircraft and the admission of Portugália pilot officers to TAP through an internal competition."
In a response to Lusa on 12 March, TAP said that "in the impossibility of reaching a consensus to avoid a protest whose raison d'être is difficult to understand, TAP has already taken all possible measures to mitigate the effect of this strike on passengers."
With that in mind, it added, operations will run normally during this period.
SCR/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
