“The strike began at midnight, and by 7 a.m., not a single train was running. The workers’ participation in the strike is total. There are no minimum services,” stated union leader António Lemos.
According to Lemos, the strike aims to demand better salary conditions for all the company’s workers.
“After exhaustive negotiations with the administration of CP – Comboios de Portugal, it was possible to reach a satisfactory agreement regarding salary increases for the current year, but this agreement “awaits approval from government oversight since February 2025.”
The CP – Comboios de Portugal warned over the weekend of the potential for “severe disruptions in service” today due to a strike called by the SFRCI – Sindicato Ferroviário da Revisão Comercial Itinerante, which represents conductors, ticketing staff, and commercial workers.
According to the company, the disruptions in service may also be felt on Tuesday.
CP – Comboios de Portugal has issued a warning about “severe disruptions in service” today due to a strike called by the SFRCI – Sindicato Ferroviário da Revisão Comercial Itinerante, according to a notice published by the operator.
Lusa | 06:13 – 28/04/2025
On Sunday, in a statement signed by 13 union structures, including the SFRCI, worker representatives accused the company of backtracking on negotiations, asserting that the Government did not approve the proposal the transport company was to sign with the workers.
The statement noted that a meeting took place on Saturday afternoon between CP and the unions, during which “the president of the CP’s administration informed all union organizations that the government did not authorize the administration to implement the last proposal” put forward.
According to the unions, this is an “unprecedented process,” as the administration had made a counterproposal on Thursday, only to “renege” on it two days later and withdraw the proposal from negotiations.
The union organizations claim they were “prepared to accept” the proposal presented by the company on Thursday, which could have been “an important step towards solving a structural problem within CP,” but now there is no agreement at all.
“The administration’s president informed [the unions, in the Saturday meeting] that the Government refused the proposal on the grounds that they are in a caretaker period and cannot authorize the measures outlined in the agreement,” the joint statement reads.
Lusa contacted CP and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing, but only received a brief response from the ministry led by Miguel Pinto Luz, confirming that the company’s proposal “falls outside the remit of a caretaker government’s competencies.”
According to the unions, CP’s proposal called for another increase starting in January 2025, in addition to the 34 euros applied through management action, to restore the difference with the National Minimum Wage (NMN) of 2018, with a variable increase depending on each index.
The company was also set to increase all workers’ wages by 4% in December 2025 and reduce the duration in the first index to one year, the second to two years, the subsequent ones to three years, and the last one to four years, starting January this year.
The statement also mentions that the two-day strike scheduled for May 7 and 8 will proceed as planned.
