The Azorean company Atlânticoline today reiterated its willingness to reach an agreement with the Union of Workers of the Merchant Navy, Travel Agencies, Freight Forwarders and Fishing (SIMAMEVIP) and stop the strike that has been going on since March 7.
“The Board of Directors of Atlânticoline reiterates its willingness to reach an agreement with the union that meets the interests of the workers without jeopardizing the financial sustainability and efficiency of the company,” the company said in a statement sent to the Lusa news agency today.
According to the note, the Board of Directors of the Azorean company “also reiterates its concern about the negative impact of the strike on the lives of the population of the Triangle [islands of São Jorge, Pico and Faial], especially users of Horta Hospital from Pico and São Jorge”.
The company said that 15 trips were canceled due to the strike called by SIMAMEVIP last week, between April 8 and 14.
Atlânticoline’s Board of Directors also recalls that “it had already informed SIMAMEVIP that it would ask the Regional Secretariat for Youth, Housing and Employment to conciliate this process, in compliance with the provisions of the law”.
Unfortunately, he adds, “he received no response from the union to this communication, which meant that he had to wait eight working days, as required by law, to formally request conciliation.”
“Therefore, the request will be sent this week,” he concluded.
SIMAMEVIP warned on Wednesday that the strike at Atlânticoline “will last as long as it has to” and insisted that the Azorean government intervene.
“All situations have been exhausted. The management can’t negotiate with us. Someone else has to come in. And the government. The company is owned by the government. All attempts have been exhausted because the management wants what is not possible,” union leader Clarimundo Batista told Lusa at the time.
The warning came a day after the president of the regional government (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM) rejected “for the time being” any intervention by the Azorean executive in the negotiation process.
“When the administration itself or the unions and the government itself, in their judgment of the situation, see that their intervention is useful, they will speak, but for now, (the negotiation) is in the field of the autonomy and independence of the administration of a public sector company with the representatives of its workers,” José Manuel Bolieiro told journalists on the island of Faial.
The strike began on March 7 and was suspended on March 19 due to negotiations between the union and management, but was resumed and is now scheduled for an indefinite period.
The union is demanding a 15% pay rise for “first-class drivers”, a figure that the company’s management considers financially unaffordable.
Atlânticoline transports almost half a million passengers and around 30,000 vehicles every year, mainly between the islands of the Triangle (Faial, Pico and São Jorge), where it operates all year round using four vessels (two ships and two ferries).