Lisbon, Feb. 3, 2025 (Lusa) - Telecoms operator Altice Portugal's executive committee has proposed updating salaries by 0.2%, but the Altice Group workers' union (STPT) argues that a "greater financial effort" is needed to avoid a "permanent conflict".
"It was with great sadness and even anger that the workers of Altice Portugal learnt through their unions of the company's proposal for this year," the union said in a statement sent to newsrooms on Monday.
After the first meeting to negotiate salary updates for 2025, the team led by Ana Figueiredo put forward a counter-proposal to the group's companies that are signatories to the collective labour agreement (ACT), which involves setting the minimum wage at €915, increasing the salary scale by 0.2% and increasing the meal allowance by €0.6, the STPT revealed.
The union led by Jorge Félix emphasises that "all the workers are aware of the demanding and unavoidable challenges for Altice Portugal", such as the tax, pension and interest charges that "worsen the company's profitability compared to the competition".
However, it argues that, "since this is the moment of inevitable transformation, as a demonstration of the confidence that is needed for the future, even in a scenario of contraction, a greater financial effort is needed in order to adequately improve the wage and salary situation of the workers".
In addition, the STPT believes that it is possible for the executive committee of the owner of telecoms provider Meo to agree salary figures that do not continue to cause workers to lose purchasing power.
"The financial results obtained by the companies that make up the contractual perimeter (of the ACT) need to be better distributed between the Group and the workers, and it shouldn't be the workers who pay off the Altice Group's clamourous ‘debt’ to creditors and bondholders," the union adds.
For these reasons, the STPT points out that "the character of the evolutionary process of collective bargaining must transform negotiation into a means of bringing the parties closer together and prevent it from turning into a permanent conflict".
SCR/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
