“The few buses that are on the street are overcrowded and the stops are still full of people, although users were already warned”, said José Manuel Silva.

According to the official, “of the more than 400 buses that should be circulating from 6am, only about 30 are on the street”.

This strike, which ends at 2am on Saturday, is aimed at demanding a better wage increase than the €15 increase proposed by the company.

The workers point out that the proposal to update the salary by €15 presented by the Board of Directors of STCP “is insufficient because it does not answer the main issue which is the devaluation of workers' wages in relation to the national minimum wage and the probability of an increase in inflation”.

In defense of these claims, there was already a strike with identical participation on 13 August and two more days of strike are already scheduled, on 26 and 27 August.

“If by 26 August, the STCP board of directors does not change its position, we will continue the fight and, on 26 and 27 August, we will be at the facilities in the morning and in the afternoon we will hold a street demonstration, probably in front of the Porto Chamber, which holds 54 percent of STCP”, he stated.

Lusa tried to get clarifications from STCP, but without success so far.

The company approved, on 30 June, at the general meeting, the consolidated accounts for 2020, a year in which there was a “never seen” decrease in demand, carrying 27.5 million fewer passengers, having closed the accounts with a loss of around €12 million.

At the same time, the new Board of Directors was elected, which now has three members instead of five, with Manuel Queiró being reappointed as executive chairman.

Since the beginning of the year, the management of the Porto urban transport operator has been assumed by the municipalities of Porto, Gaia, Gondomar, Matosinhos, Valongo and Maia.