Altice Portugal’s executive committee and unions representing workers in the company will meet on June 22 to clarify the company’s situation, the Altice Group Portugal Workers’ Union (STPT) announced on its Facebook account.
Union structures want to know what the management plan for the company’s future is, after acknowledging workers’ interest in an email from the company’s CEO, Alexandre Fonseca, warning of a possible reorganization with room for new outlets (this time for unilateral terminations, i.e. redundancy) . Unions should also seek clarification on recent news that the Altice group is preparing to sell the Portuguese operation, as well as an attempt to move forward with a review of the Collective Labor Agreement (ACT), signed in 2018 and whose review was signed in January of this year.
According to STPT, which reports that a meeting is scheduled with other Altice unions, the company scheduled the meeting to talk about Altice’s current “regulatory framework.” The scheduling of the meeting is a favorable response to the requests of various union structures, such as Frente Sindical (where STPT is merged) and the Altice Portugal Trade Union Confederation.
At the end of May, all unions urgently requested a meeting with the management of the company, but, As reported by Journal Economics on June 4thThe unions heard by JE complained about the rejection of the request, claiming that the company’s response was to send a press release and then distribute it to the media, calling the latest news “rumours” and “speculations”.
The union structures, then, ensured that they and management would insist on seeing the future of the company clear, with STPT – one of the most relevant unions in the world. Telecommunications – Acknowledging that, in the absence of a response, he can mobilize workers for protest actions, including strikes The official source of Altice Portugal confirmed that the company never refuses “any regular meeting with unions”. But Jorge Felix, the leader of the STPT, confirmed: “No date has been set [para uma reunião]”.
Jorge Felix also accused Altice of having “no intention” of receiving union structures. A similar transcript of the facts was told to JE Luís Rijo Fernandes, a spokesman for the Altice Trade Union Confederation, who also submitted a request to meet with Alexandre Fonseca. However, the trade union Altice refused to proceed with the “combat actions”, although it stressed that the silence of the management was “questioning the atmosphere of social peace that the company has experienced so far”.
Now, Altice Portugal’s response has reached the unions. This comes after the union front reinforced a request for a meeting with management by handing over to the company, on June 2, a proposal to review the Labor Code, which demands an increase in the minimum wage of 850 euros in the company.
Although unions want to clarify group news and review labor law, workers will primarily want to clarify the company’s plan in the face of management’s email to workers, on May 28. According to STPT, what is at stake is an “integrated organizational plan” that the outlines of union structures claim they know nothing of.
“Basically concerned with your call on 05/28/21, where you say and convey, ‘…For this, the HR component is key, so it will remain an area of analysis and where we evaluate all possible scenarios, which include additional reorganization measures, which It may include unilateral measures, which allow us to achieve the established objectives of the growth and sustainability strategy in the context of the sector,” as stated on STPT’s Facebook.
Since 2018, Altice Portugal has been promoting the company’s exits, through the Pessoa programme. This year, a new wave of voluntary terminations has opened, with 1,700 workers registered. But the company expects only about 1,100 workers to leave.
By the end of the year, the working population of Altes Portugal should be 6,500 people. Five years ago, the owner of Meo directly employed about 11,000 workers.
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