Cessation of Minimal Railway Operations Guaranteed During Strike
In a decisive move, the Arbitral Tribunal has unanimously ruled against instituting minimum service requirements during two phases of a railway strike scheduled from 00:00 on May 7 to 24:00 on May 14, 2025, and from 00:00 on May 7 to 24:00 on May 8, 2025. This decision was announced on the Economic and Social Council's website on May 2, 2025.
Despite the absence of minimum service requirements, the safety and maintenance of equipment and facilities, emergency services, rescue trains, and trains already in motion will continue to be ensured. In situations where the strike reaches a larger scale, such as on the 7th, 8th, and 9th, the tribunal has deemed it inadvisable to implement minimum services given the availability of alternative modes of urban transportation in Lisbon and Porto, due to the high demand.
According to the Arbitration Court, the decision not to decree minimum services was made because such implementation would not guarantee maintaining the essential social needs of users and eliminating the core rights of the strike, including maintaining the minimum safety standards for railway station platform users and train travelers. This decision was conveyed by the panel of arbitrators, headed by Jorge Bacelar Gouveia.
Last week, a railway strike without minimum services, led by CP conductors, caused a total halt in circulation for several hours following a power outage affecting Portugal and Spain. In response, 14 unions representing CP workers issued a strike notice against the imposition of wage increases that they claimed did not restore purchasing power and demanded collective negotiations for fair wage increases.
In addition to their calls for higher wages, the workers are seeking the implementation of the salary scale restructuring agreement, as previously negotiated and agreed. The strike notice was issued by several unions, including the Trade Union Association of Intermediate Railway Operations Managers (ASCEF), the Federation of Transport and Communications Trade Unions (FECTRANS), and the National Union of Transport, Communications and Public Works (FENTCOP), among others.
The strike has had a significant impact on rail services, particularly on the days of total union participation, including May 7-8 and the middle days of the strike. Train stations were empty during these periods, and services were halted. While the strike highlighted the unions’ demands for wage restoration and better pay, there was no immediate resolution announced during the strike period. The actions were intended to pressure the government and rail operator CP to renegotiate labor contracts.
Financing alternative transportation solutions in Lisbon and Porto might prove crucial during the railway strike, given the expected scale of the disruption. The arbitration decision also emphasized the importance of maintaining finance for ensuring the essential social needs of users, such as minimum safety standards for railway station platform users and train travelers.
