A recent press statement highlights the intolerable situation airport workers face. Hundreds of employees are prevented from parking near their workplace due to the chaotic and deeply unbalanced management of the car parks, the responsibility of SABA, with the connivance of ANA Aeroportos, states an infrastructure manager.
“There are no covenants available for workers, and there are no plans to alleviate the problem. SABA’s answer is always the same: “There are no vacancies.” At the same time, the parks are mostly occupied by vehicles from rent-a-car companies, which seem to have absolute priority, while airport workers are forced to leave their cars in the centre of Santa Cruz and walk miles late at night or pay 20 euros per day – an unaffordable amount. Worse still, even workers who have managed to buy allowances are often barred from the entrances to the parks because they are “full,” a situation that is often repeated and for which there is no solution in sight.
This situation contrasts with what happens in most Portuguese and European airports, where rent-a-car companies operate outside the airport perimeter, with their customers transported by shuttles. This is a functional and balanced solution, which protects the space and resources for those who work there every day. At Madeira Airport, the priority is business and not people. ANA Aeroportos and SABA have allowed the excessive occupation of the parks by rent-a-car, completely ignoring the workers.” The press release exposes.
The workers demand immediate solutions such as “the urgent sale of allowances to airport workers with absolute priority; reorganisation of rent-a-car company spaces so that they operate outside the airport perimeter, provision of a shuttle transport service, as in other national airports; the creation of a minimum number of posts reserved exclusively for employees; and finally, firm intervention by ANA Aeroportos to ensure decent access to the workplace.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
