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By Euronews
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Portuguese airports will be hit by travel chaos over the New Year as ground handlers go on strike.
Workers of SPdH/Menzies, formerly Groundforce, plan to walk out on 31 December and 1 January. However, Portugal‘s arbitration court has ruled that minimum services must be guaranteed, reports Lusa
During the strike, ground handling for state, military, emergency, humanitarian and rescue flights must not be disrupted, as well as operations essential to the safety of people, aircraft and installations.
Air connections to the autonomous regions – at least one flight – and “other operations considered essential, under the terms of the applicable labour legislation”, will also be covered by minimum services, according to the court ruling.
Why are airport workers striking in Portugal?
The strike on the last day of 2025 and the first day of 2026 was called by Sitava – the Aviation and Airport Workers’ Union – and STHAA – the Handling, Aviation and Airport Workers’ Union.
The unions blame uncertainty over the future of the workers due to the call for tenders for ground handling licences. A preliminary report by the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC), quoted by Lusa, puts the Clece/South consortium in first place in this tender.
The government has already extended the licences up to May 2026, but the unions want written guarantees that jobs will be maintained: of the approximately 3,700 SPdH/Menzies workers, around 2,000 will be directly affected by this tender.
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