Portugal's TAP employees demand for terms of company's sale

Employees of Portuguese flagship carrier TAP on Monday demanded for access to the terms of the company's sale as part of its privatization process.

In a letter directed to the Portuguese Minister of Economy Antonio Pires de Lima, the employees said they wanted access to the contract documents in order to "be informed about the whole process of TAP's privatization," according to local media.

The employees also complained they did not receive the documents of the terms in 2012, when the government decided to stall the sale because the sole bidder didn't meet necessary banking requirements on time.

TAP restarted the concession in November last year, and decided to sell off 66 percent of TAP. The government will retain a 34-percent stake which it can sell two years after the sale.

TAP airline crew and pilots have gone on successive strikes to protest against the plan, which they say violates their work contracts. The strikes have cost the company millions of euros, with the authorities threatening to sack employees or bring criminal charges against them.

However, the government announced last week that TAP is banned from firing employees as long as the state is a shareholder and during the first two and a half years following the sale.

TAP's sale is one of the terms set in the 78 billion euros (90 billion U.S. dollars) bailout program Portugal signed in May 2011 with its troika of international lenders, namely the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. Endit