The municipality considers that this strike is for political reasons and not a union struggle.

The strike, which will run from Monday until the 30th, was decided at a workers' plenary meeting, continuing a struggle that began with a two-day stoppage in February and three in March.

The April strike was suspended ahead of a meeting that was scheduled with the Government for that month.

“The decision was unanimous and the meeting did not even last an hour,” the regional coordinator of the Local Administration Workers Union (STAL), Luísa Silva, told Lusa, justifying the decision with the fact that there has still been no progress that gives hope to workers, despite a meeting with the Government being scheduled.

According to the union leader, the workers decided to suspend the four-day strike in April due to a meeting scheduled with the Government and Coimbra City Council for the 29th of that month, but this meeting was cancelled due to the blackout that occurred the day before.

Later, a new meeting was scheduled for May 27, “without an agenda and without documents” to resolve the problems of the workers, who are demanding salary improvements and career reinstatement, said Luísa Silva.

“The workers considered that, since March 17 [date of the first meeting between the parties], a lot of time has passed to meet, for the matter to be worked on”, he noted, recalling that the commitment would be to leave this dossier prepared by the elections, to be subsequently taken on by the Government that took office.

According to Luísa Silva, workers and unions will go to Lisbon for a meeting with the Government, at the Ministry of Finance, admitting that, depending on the result of that meeting, the remaining three days of the strike may be called off.

Contacted by Lusa, the Mayor, José Manuel Silva, admitted surprise at the call for the five-day strike, recalling that the meeting between the Government, local authority and unions did not take place because of the blackout, “and not due to a lack of goodwill”.

“We immediately announced the date of the new meeting, May 27, as there were no conditions for meetings during the election campaign. The Government has always been in good faith, as has the Chamber,” he said.

The mayor highlighted that, of the four municipalities that have municipalised transport services, the only one “that is trying to resolve the problem is the only one where there is a strike”, considering that this fight has “a strongly political character, which only harms the citizens, especially the poorest”.

For José Manuel Silva, the negotiation process “was progressing well”, with Coimbra City Council available to provide a subsidy of 15% of the drivers’ base salary, which would imply an annual effort of 820 thousand euros from the local authority.

“This temporary solution does not prevent the reintroduction of the career, which we agree with,” he stressed.

When asked whether he foresees the possibility of calling off the remaining strike days after Tuesday's meeting, the mayor seemed unsure.

“I don’t know what the criteria are for calling off the strike, because I also don’t understand the criteria for calling the strike,” he said.

This will be the third strike by SMTUC employees this year, after two days in February and three in March, in a calendar of struggle that increases by one day each month until September, the month in which municipal elections are due to take place, totaling 40 days of strike.