The strike by workers at Parques de Sintra – Monte da Lua (PSML), which began today and will run until Sunday, is not affecting the functioning of the monuments, according to the company’s management and the STAL union.
“At the moment, the strike has had no impact on the operation of Parques de Sintra. We have all the monuments and parks open, unlike what happened in other strikes,” a source from the board of directors of PSML, the cultural heritage management company of Sintra, in the Lisbon district, told the Lusa agency.
The National Union of Local and Regional Administration Workers (STAL) confirmed to Lusa that there is no equipment closed due to the strike, although early in the morning there were delays in opening, because the company moved workers so that all monuments were in operation.
At stake is a four-day strike, between today and Sunday, called by STAL, for not reviewing some clauses of the new PSML company agreement, which has already been signed between the administration and the Public Administration Workers Union (Sintap).
A source from the PSML board of directors said that, today, the rate of adherence of workers to the strike is “about 10%”, noting that the monuments and parks work only with a work shift, so from the moment they are all open, without exception, “there is no reason to close”.
On the part of STAL, union member Carlos Faia Fernandes said that a 50% adherence rate was recorded, with the monuments operating with “many constraints”, including queues at the entrances, predicting that at the weekend the impact of the strike will be greater.
“There is no practical effect, that is, all monuments and parks, at this moment, are open, in operation”, countered the administration, stating that the strike is not affecting the normal functioning of the company.
PSML manages the palaces of Sintra, Pena, Queluz and Monserrate, the Moorish Park and the Moorish Castle.
The management of Parques de Sintra also revealed that 53% of the approximately 320 workers have already signed the new company agreement, which was made available on Monday.
Regarding the clarification of the PSML administration, which contradicts part of the arguments presented by STAL, namely the deregulation of working hours, Carlos Faia Fernandes explained that the concern is not that the company will apply, “immediately”, continuous hours of 9.5 hours or the loss of lunch hours.
“It won’t, but it can, that’s what the adaptability clause is for,” argued the trade unionist, arguing that regulating working hours would be to remove that clause.
As for the lunch schedule, the union leader said that “there was the insistence of the board of directors, despite being warned by STAL, to include the exception of not disturbing the operation of the service”, a clause that did not exist in the previous company agreement and that may interfere with this right of workers.
Another of the demands presented by STAL is the allocation of a transportation allowance or alternative for workers with a workplace in the most distant palaces.
“STAL knows and has been informed of the financial unfeasibility of ‘a transportation allowance’, and therefore it cannot be integrated into the new company agreement”, argued the administration of Parques de Sintra.
The board of directors also stressed that “only one company agreement may be in force, and it is not feasible to have two company agreements simultaneously”, a position that STAL disagrees with because it considers that “there may be two collective regulation instruments”, one with adaptability and the other without this clause.
“Parques de Sintra fully respects the right to strike and does not comment on any impacts, recalling only that the new company agreement implies the largest growth in the wage bill in the company’s history”, stressed the administration.
The strike coincides with World Youth Day, which runs until Sunday in Lisbon.
