Lisbon, May 30, 2025 (Lusa) - Workers at Portugal's capital city public transport operator, Carris, are staging a partial strike between Monday and Friday in protest at the deadlock in negotiations with the company, a situation that the president of the Lisbon transport company acknowledges needs to be resolved, "but not overnight".
Speaking to Lusa, Carris president Pedro de Brito Bogas stressed on Friday that he has had "good dialogue with the trade unions", but acknowledged that "the unions always want more".
“This year we have had this difficulty, we are having this challenge of being in a cycle of significant wage increases and at the same time there is a demand to reduce working hours from 40 to 35 hours,” he said.
Trade unions representing workers have called a two-hour strike at the bus company (which also operates trams and street lifts) at the beginning and end of each shift between 2 and 6 June and a 24-hour strike on 12 June, with minimum services being decreed by an arbitration court.
In addition to services such as exclusive transport for disabled people and the company's medical posts being mandatory, routes 703, 708, 717, 726, 735, 736, 738, 751, 755, 758, 760 and 767 must operate "at 50% of their normal service".
On 13 May, the National Union of Drivers and Other Workers (SNMOT) explained that the agreement on salary increases would not mean the end of the negotiation process and that, together with the company, it would set up "working groups with a view, in particular, to reducing working hours in stages to 35 hours per week".
According to the union, it had already been possible to reduce actual working hours to around 37 hours and 30 minutes per week, "a fact that was only acknowledged by all those involved in the process some time later", with the first meeting of the working group set up to reduce actual working hours to 35 hours per week taking place on 30 April.
According to Pedro Bogas, the reduction from 40 to 35 hours, which he says is a legitimate ambition, is "extremely difficult and jeopardises the company's sustainability".
"We cannot, at the same time and in such a short period, significantly increase wages and reduce working hours [...].
We have a lot of consideration and pay close attention to all these demands, we have already given several examples of this, but it has a very high cost for the company: at the moment we estimate it at €8 million, but it could be higher and, moreover, it is not logistically feasible," he stressed.
Pedro Bogas pointed out that the workers themselves know that this change would require hiring almost 300 drivers.
"The workers themselves know that it is not possible to do this from one moment to the next and, therefore, it would have to be done in stages, according to the possibilities, both logistical and economic, of the company," he explained.
This year, he added, the company has already signed a wage update agreement with all the trade unions, removing this from the list of demands.
"We now have this issue of 40 to 35 hours, which has been brought up again by the trade unions at a time when the city is celebrating its festivities," he said.
Carris has been under the management of Lisbon city council since 2017 and the workers are represented by various trade union structures, such as SNMOT, the Road and Urban Transport Workers' Union (STRUP), Sitra - Transport Workers' Union, Sitese - Service Sector Workers' Union and ASPTC - Carris and Subsidiaries Workers' Union Association.
Pedro Bogas was appointed president of the company in 2022.
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Lusa
