With a week of strikes approaching – the Union of Captains, Pilot Officers, Commissioners and Engineers of the Merchant Navy, scheduled for the 29th and 30th of November, and the 6th and 7th of December, the Regional Secretary of Economy, Rui Barreto, again warns of the need of the Ministries of Infrastructure and Housing, and that of Labour, Solidarity, and Social Security, to ensure that supplies reach the autonomous regions despite the disruption to services.
Although he is sympathetic to the purposes presented by the aforementioned national union structure, having met with the president of the national union, Rui Barreto considers that it is vitally important that the Madeirans and Port-Santenses are not penalised, given their total dependence on ‘supply by sea,’ especially when the solution is wholly dependent on the Government of the Republic.
He went on to say, “in the process of setting minimum services, it is imperative that exceptional measures be taken to safeguard the supply of the Region, in particular all the means to ensure the operation of all supply vessels to the Autonomous Region of Madeira, as well as the departure of ships, when the availability of quays for ships to or from the Autonomous Region of Madeira is concerned. Measures” he said “that have been guaranteed in the past.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.om
