"DHL Supply Chain reiterates that the results of the tests carried out show that the number of infections per covid-19 is less than 5 percent of the workforce in that location, with no new cases to report", says the company in a note sent to newsrooms.

On 24 June, the Trade, Office and Services Union demanded that the company conduct screening tests of the covid-19 to all workers and that it discloses the results.

Speaking to the Lusa agency, Ricardo Mendes, of the Trade, Office and Services Union of Portugal (CESP), said that workers have been on a partial strike since Monday, 22 June, which will last until Friday, 26 June, to demand tests for all and the dissemination of results, a comprehensive contingency plan for covid-19, the right to a break and a salary increase.

According to the statement from DHL Supply Chain, the company states that, on the 17 June, "after finally having the results of the tests" carried out to all its employees in the operation of the Plaza 1 warehouse in Azambuja, confirmed that the test results showed that the number of infections was less than 5 percent.

The company also says that it continues to work “in close collaboration with the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) to detect and stop possible chains of infection”.

“To protect our employees, we have taken the preventive precautions possible in all areas, based on health recommendations. Currently, our operations at the Azambuja warehouse continue without interruption”, the note also states.

According to Ricardo Mendes, on the first day of the strike, one of the complaints was answered by the company, that of a 15-minute break to rest or eat small meals, but the others have not yet been answered.

According to Ricardo Mendes, the strike is directed at the DHL Supply Chain, where cases of infection with the new coronavirus, which causes the covid-19 disease, were detected earlier this month.

“We started by having one, two positive cases and suddenly there were dozens. The last information we had a week ago was about 20, but we do not know why, in the meantime, the results of the tests have ceased to appear and we are concerned that there may be more cases,” he said.

According to Ricardo Mendes, positive cases are young people who are asymptomatic and quarantined at home.

“What we want is for all workers to be tested, including those who come from temporary employment agencies, and those who had contact with them so that what happened with SONAE Modelo and Continente, where dozens of cases were detected,”, he said.

According to the union leader, workers who have already been tested do not know the result.

Another of the demands is the implementation by the company, which has about 500 workers, of a comprehensive contingency plan.

Ricardo Mendes recalled that work in that type of logistics warehouse often requires assemblies.

The workers also claim, according to the union, a salary increase of 90 Euros and career progression.

The DHL Suplly Chain warehouse is located in the Plaza 1 area of ??the Azambuja Logistics Platform, where the Fashion Division and Maxmat warehouses are also companies that are part of the Sonae group and for which DHL workers also provide services.