Theater workers D. Maria II accuse Government of “severe interference”

Othe workers of the National Theatre D. Maria II concentrated today in front of the theatre facilities in Lisbon accused the Government of a “serious interference in the negotiating process” underway “on the eve of another negotiating round”.

In a motion adopted unanimously and acclaim, at the end of the concentration before the door that leads to Praça D. Pedro IV, the workers refer to fighting “for more than 17 years for a Company Agreement that defends their interests and rights and values their careers”.

A “fundamental instrument of collective regulation” that “successive governments and administrations have prevented, suspended and delayed”, adding that in the case of the current theatre administration the process already counts “with more than eight years of negotiation process”.

The workers stressed that, in October, in the “vespers of another negotiating round, the administration confronted the unions with a new proposal for a Company Agreement that tears the compromise so far achieved, unilaterally altering 50 clauses already consensualized”.

“ The fact that this amendment is justified by meetings between the administration and the guardianships [Culture and Finance] reveals a deep disrespect for collective bargaining and constitutes a serious interference of the government in an ongoing negotiation process”, stressed the professionals of that national theater.