Horários do Funchal bus drivers will strike again on the 17th and 18th of September, announced the National Union of Drivers and Other Workers (SNMOT) yesterday. This strike is to be maintained if the following requirement is not met: the end of company wage discrimination.” Stated union leader Manuel Oliveira.
The two plenary sessions covered drivers from private company SIGA Rodoeste, and professionals from publicly owned company, Horários do Funchal.
In the case of Siga Rodoeste, which employs about 80 drivers, the decision was to schedule a meeting for September with the Commercial and Industrial Association of Funchal/Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Madeira (ACIF/CCIM), which represents businessmen in the sector, to continue the negotiation process. Meanwhile, the 350 Horários do Funchal drivers mandated the union to go ahead with a new strike in September.
In addition to demanding a “correction of the salary update” by at least 30.65 euros per month and the reopening of the negotiation process for the reduction of working hours from 39 to 35 hours per week, SNMOT demands an end to wage discrimination.
The trade unionist explained that the wage discrimination stems from an agreement signed between the management of the company Horários do Funchal and another union structure in the sector, the Union of Road Workers and Metallurgical Activities of Madeira (STRAMM), which determined a salary increase of 20 euros in the basic salary, with retroactive effect to the 1st of January 2025, covering both affiliated and non-unionised workers.
Workers affiliated to the National Union of Drivers and Other Workers were not covered by this increase, and the negotiation process has created tension between the parties involved, namely the union, the company’s management, and the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP), which oversees Horários do Funchal.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
