"Our workers in Faro are experiencing great difficulties. We have workers who have had to live in cars for a few months, earning around 350, 400, 500 euros for a month. Almost all of our workers in Faro have to have a second or a third job", said Ana Dias, director of SNPVAC, in the parliamentary Committee on Work, Social Security and Inclusion.

According to the union director, these workers are working as taxi drivers at night and work for the airline during the day.

These conditions can, according to Ana Dias, "also compromise flight safety, of course".

"These are very dramatic situations in Faro and it is more than a legal issue, it is a social issue and we have to completely eliminate this type of contract", she defended.

SNPVAC has also asked for salary improvements.

"Our salaries are not adjusted to the cost of living in Portugal, nor to what is practiced in the aviation market here in Portugal, and much less when compared with our colleagues abroad", said Ana Dias, pointing out that a French colleague or German "earns 90% more" than a Portuguese worker at easyJet in Portugal.

Less than average

The union says that easyJet workers in Portugal receive about 60% less, on average, than the rest of the company's workers in Europe.

Ana Dias noted that the union does not want increases that equal these values, but asks for "an increase that, at least, follows the growth of easyJet here in Portugal".

The union director noted that the airline is "leader in the European market" on some routes, namely connections with the United Kingdom, France and Luxembourg, and recalled that it acquired several 'slots' that belonged to TAP and that were distributed following the restructuring and gains in space at Terminal 1 at Lisbon airport.

"The company continues not to assume this responsibility and to treat Portuguese workers as second-class workers", accused the unionist.

The president of SNPVAC, Ricardo Penarroias, found that there is "such a great degree of dissatisfaction that, at this moment, the cabin crew do not want to talk anymore, they want action".