Lisbon, Dec. 12, 2025 (Lusa) - SPdH/Menzies ground handling workers at Portugal's airports will be on strike on 31st December and 1st January, given the uncertainty generated by the tender for the award of licences, which gave the Clece/South consortium the advantage.
In a statement released on Friday, Sitava - Aviation and Airport Workers' Union and STHAA - Union of Handling, Aviation and Airport Workers, announced that they had issued a “prior notice of strike, covering mainland Portugal and the Autonomous Region of Madeira”, from "midnight on 31st December 2025 to midnight on 1st January 2026".
According to the unions, SPdH workers today see "their future, their rights and conditions and the future of the company at stake", pointing to the preliminary report by the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC), which "gives priority to the consortium formed by Clece/ South consortium in the tender for the award of ground handling licences in categories 3 (baggage terminal), 4 (cargo) and 5 (aircraft)".
Meanwhile, the Government has extended the licences currently under tender until at least 19 May 2026, they recalled.
However, "since the preliminary report was made public, SPdH workers remain in an absolutely unsustainable situation of uncertainty and anxiety about their future, which is unacceptable, especially in a sector such as aviation and airports," they said, pointing out that "more than 3,700 direct jobs are at stake (2,888 in Lisbon, 482 in Porto, 207 in Funchal, 137 in Faro and 29 in Porto Santo)".
For the unions, "if the National Civil Aviation Authority's final decision to award the licences to the Clece/South consortium is implemented, and according to information from the Government, the transfer of establishment will not apply", adding that there is still "the possibility of TAP moving towards self-handling in its operations in Lisbon (and, eventually, in Porto)", which would lead to "a division of workers between two (or more) companies, without the transfer of establishment also applying".
In the note, the trade unions indicated that from their contacts with the Clece/South consortium, it was clear that, at this moment, there are "no conditions for making any written commitment (since they have not yet won anything), nor for giving any written guarantee regarding jobs or acquired rights", and that the companies do not know "how the selection/division of workers (in categories 3, 4 and 5, in Lisbon, Porto and Faro) would be carried out".
The unions also explained that "the SPdH licences for Funchal, Porto Santo and categories 1 and 2 of the passenger area in Lisbon, Porto and Faro are valid and have recently been renewed until April 2031", indicating that "in the current tender, 2,070 workers out of a total of 3,743 are involved, so only these workers would be subject to the transfer of establishment".
The unions consider it legitimate for SPdH workers to fight "so that their jobs and rights are not further undermined, so that their Company Agreement is respected and the content of collective bargaining is not undermined, and so that their personal and professional dignity is respected".
The strike aims to obtain "an effective and written guarantee that, whatever ANAC's final decision on the allocation of ground handling licences in categories 3, 4 and 5, in Lisbon, Porto and Faro, SPdH workers will have their jobs secured, as well as their rights enshrined in collective bargaining and other regulations in force and the negotiating commitments made by SPdH for 2026," they said.
ALN/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
