Professionals from the different security forces and other essential employees who work at the Airport of Faro will carry out a protest action against the decision of ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal to start charging them for parking, tomorrow, Friday, at 11:00 am, at this airport infrastructure.
Workers from the PSP, SEF, GNR, the Tax Authority and the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere want, in this way, to «express their indignation at this disrespectful attitude by the private company that manages the national airports», reads a joint communiqué from the union structures and professional associations that represent them.
According to the unions, ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, “unilaterally decided to start charging parking fees to professionals from state bodies who work in those infrastructures, something that has never happened in the past”.
«Despite being a private company, ANA provides a public service, managing national airports and ensuring that they comply with international rules for the air transport of people and goods, as well as creating conditions for all authorities and public services fulfill their missions», they consider.
The professionals who will be in protest tomorrow perform "essential functions", in such a way that, without their work, "it is impossible to keep the airports functioning".
Bearing in mind that "the activity of airports requires them to operate 24 hours a day", the authorities and other public bodies "work in shifts, and their professionals are required to be permanently available and to a high degree of readiness for ensure the essential functions of an airport'.
“These characteristics, intrinsic to their missions, make the use of public transport by professionals of those authorities and public bodies unfeasible in most circumstances, which is why the use of their own vehicle is an imposition and not an alternative”, they assure.
"In this sense, the provision of adequate and secure spaces for the parking of vehicles belonging to the various authorities that guarantee security and supervision at National Airports, namely Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal and Ponta Delgada, under the management of ANA/VINCI, is part of the basic working conditions that must be ensured by the concessionaire, and cannot be considered as a courtesy, but rather as an imperative for the regular and safe operation of the airport» , concluded the representatives of the affected workers.
This protest aims to “leave a very clear message to ANA and the Government: we do not pay fees to work!”, they conclude.
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