By Victoria Waldersee
LISBON, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Sixteen flights to and from
Lisbon airport have been cancelled this weekend as a result of a
three-day strike by airport workers, with more cancellations and
delays likely before the action ends on Sunday evening.
A spokesman for the National Union for Civil Aviation
Workers (SINTAC), who called the strike, told local news agency
Lusa that 90% of workers had taken part in the action in Lisbon
on Sunday, the busiest day for the airport.
EasyJet and Brussels Airlines flights from Paris,
Belgium, London, Bristol, and Manchester were cancelled on
Saturday and Sunday. Neither company immediately responded to a
Reuters request for comment.
A Lisbon airport spokesman declined to confirm how many
flights had been cancelled, but said numbers would be given at
the end of the day.
Talks between SINTAC and Vinci Group-owned Portway, which
employs workers at Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Funchal airports,
broke down in December when the company said it would not
unfreeze salaries.
It had committed to do so by November 2019 when the freeze
was implemented in 2016.
SINTAC said the company's decision is intended to punish the
union's rejection of a revised work contract put forward by
Portway in August.
"For three years workers have seen their career progression
and salaries frozen for the sake of the company's financial
health," they said on Friday.
Portway denied the allegations, Lusa reported on Friday,
stating that they "scrupulously comply with regulations,
including in relation to labour law". The company could not be
reached for comment on Sunday.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Jan Harvey)