Social stability in the handling services of the largest national airports is hanging by a thread, after the tender for the awarding of licenses for the next seven years resulted in the victory of a Spanish consortium, which has since been contested by Menzies.

The unions have a meeting scheduled with the government this week, but promise to proceed with a strike if the uncertainty about the future of the company and jobs continues. Starting with the general strike on December 11, according to a report by Eco.

The preliminary report of the tender for the awarding of licenses for the next seven years at the airports of Lisbon, Porto and Faro, released on October 15th, gave the highest score to the consortium that brings together the Spanish companies Clece and South (a handling company of the Iberia group). SPdH, the current license holder operating under the Menzies brand, a British company that acquired 50.1% of the capital of the former Groundforce in 2024, contested the result in a preliminary hearing, and the jury's analysis is still ongoing.

As the current licenses expire on Wednesday, November 19, the Ministry of Infrastructure approved a decree this Friday extending them for another six months. This decision did not please the Aviation Workers' Union (SITAVA), the most representative union in the company, which does not accept that workers are being "cooked on a low flame," without guarantees about their jobs and rights.

SITAVA says that the workers "will know how to find, immediately, the best ways to fight." Which ones? "Surely it will involve strikes and demonstrations in December, possibly even taking advantage of the general strike," Fernando Henriques, director of the union, tells ECO. The decision to proceed with a notice period will be made “at the beginning of next week”.

The union representative says that “the uncertainty about the future of the approximately 4,000 jobs and their respective rights beyond December is unacceptable”. “A month has passed since the preliminary report was released, and the workers' guarantees today are exactly the same as they were then, that is, zero,” he criticizes.

Rui Souto Lopes, from the Union of Workers in Handling, Aviation and Airports (STHAA), the second most represented union in SPdH, assures that his union is “aligned with SITAVA in defending jobs” at Menzies and that “the workers are not willing to wait another six months”.

The STHAA leader confirms that the possibility of a strike “is on the table” and emphasizes that if it takes place at Christmas or New Year's, “it has a different impact,” adding that the last major airport strike was called by STHAA in 2021. Rui Souto Lopes, however, does not include the general strike on the 11th in this demand.

Deadline

The strike must be called at least 10 days in advance, hence the unions want clarification on the outcome of the tender by the first week of December. It is in this context that a new meeting is scheduled this week at the Ministry of Infrastructure, which could be decisive.

“A possible decision in January/February, which is what we believe they are trying to do, would take away any strength from the workers, so we will not let the situation drag on beyond the end of the year. January and February are the weakest months at the airports,” points out Fernando Henriques.

Rui Souto Lopes states that if “the final result of the [handling license] tender is presented by mid-December, there may not be a strike.”

The SITAVA leader, however, affirms that a strike will only be avoided if the result is “the continuation of SPdH” or “if the Government manages to guarantee in writing that, regardless of who wins the licenses, the jobs and rights of the workers are secured at the five airports.”

The Clece/South consortium is willing to take on Menzies workers, especially since it wouldn't find others with the necessary training and experience, but it may not hire them while maintaining the rights they already acquired at SPdH. Furthermore, not all of them would be absorbed.

Fernando Henriques points out that there are more than 900 Menzies workers who work in check-in and boarding, activities not included in the tendered licenses (baggage handling, cargo handling, and runway operations assistance), whose jobs will be at risk if Clece/South wins. The same applies to workers in Funchal and Porto Santo.

If it loses to the Spanish consortium, SPdH will lose a large part of its activity and face a new insolvency process.