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TAP employees to peacefully protest pilots' strike

Xinhua, April 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

TAP employees on Tuesday planned a peaceful protest at Lisbon's Portela airport to show their discontent at an upcoming strike staged by the airline's pilots.

"It's very important for the syndicate of pilots to know that there are people, outside their small world, who are completely against such senselessness," spokesperson of employees against the strike Fernando Santos said in an email sent to employees Tuesday morning, according to local media.

The employees have planned a "silent march" to begin at midday on Wednesday from the company's building, ending with a concentration at the crew members' terminal.

This Friday, pilots at TAP will start a 10-day strike to demand a stake of up to 20 percent in the company when it is privatized.

Pilots at TAP have accused the airline of being "completely inflexible in the negotiations" and have refused to backtrack on the decision.

The airline's head Fernando Pinto called off the strike negotiations between TAP and pilots on Monday but warned that the strike will cost the company "a million euros per day in cancellations of reservations."

Last year, TAP saw losses amounting to 85.1 million euros (93.28 million U.S. dollars) due to delays in the arrival of aircraft and successive strikes.

The center-right government plans to sell up to 66 percent of the state-owned company and the privatization is already in its final stage.

The concession of TAP is part of Portugal's privatization plan to help reduce the country's high debt load. Endit