Similar to what happened last weekend at Lisbon airport, the Foreigner and Border Service (SEF) strike created further misery at Madeira’s International Airport.
This was confirmed to JM Carlos Costa, SEF inspector and union delegate of the Union of Investigation, Inspection and Border Inspectors (SIIFF), who reported that adherence to this strike was 100%, with only three inspectors on duty in the morning shift and one coordinating inspector.
For this reason, the queues for boarding and disembarking lengthened considerably, and waiting times were longer than normal.
As the trade unionist recalls, at the basis of this strike are the uncertainties that persist about the future of SEF professionals, after the approval of the transitional arrangements for SEF workers following the restructuring process.
This is because, despite the approval being already in the hands of the President of the Republic for promulgation, the diploma is unknown to the workers themselves.
“That is, we do not know what effective conditions we have due to the demise of the service, where we are, and what we want most of all, are deadlines which we can work too. This process has been going on for almost three years,” said Carlos Costa, who attests that this is a situation that has worried and injured several professionals in the Region.
“We have people who have already finished their service commissions and who are waiting to return to the continent since last year. We have people who do not know where, how or under what conditions they will stay and who cannot buy a house or move because of the uncertainty. We have families who don’t know where they’re going to enroll kids next year. We have been waiting three years for a solution and our inspectors are suffering as a result of governmental mismanagement.” Carlos Costa elucidated.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
