Train traffic was disrupted Wednesday in Portugal due to a strike by controllers demanding higher wages, canceling half of all trains scheduled for the early hours of the day, according to Portuguese Railways (CP).
However, the minimum service made it possible to limit the impact of this 24-hour strike, scheduled until the end of Wednesday.
About 143 of the 251 trains scheduled as of 8 a.m. (7 a.m. GMT) have been cancelled, according to a preliminary report sent by CP.
The strike notice was submitted by several unions, but after a meeting on Tuesday with Secretary of State for Infrastructure Frederico Francisco, only the Union of Railway Controllers kept mobilizing.
The union in particular condemns the various pay increases according to the categories of workers in the company which “widen the disparities,” according to the union.
Luis Bravo, president of the SFRCI, explained to TSF radio that the agreement signed with the train drivers’ union “has absorbed a large part of the funds intended for all workers.
The railway workers had in turn observed, in December and January, several days of strike for wage increases.
