An employee of the Mercadona supermarket in Matosinhos has been suspended for "serious violation" of work duties, according to a letter given to him by the company
Photo: Pedro Correia/Global Imagens
For the Trade, Office and Services Workers Union of Portugal, the suspension is due to the fact that the worker "had asserted his rights as a union delegate". The situation was revealed in an action of denunciation, late this morning Wednesday, March 1, at the door of the store.
Nelson Campos is 38 years old and has worked for four years in that supermarket, located on Rua Sousa Aroso. He works as a specialized operator and, in October, he was elected union delegate. On February 6, he received a letter from Irmãdona Supermercados, Unipessoal, Lda, stating that a disciplinary procedure had been initiated against him for "existence of evidence of serious violation of his work duties".
The company, considering the employee's presence on the premises "inconvenient", namely for "the investigation of such facts", and because it had not yet been possible to prepare the "guilty note", suspended him, although without loss of pay. The letter adds that the "preventive suspension of work will be in force until written notification to the contrary.
The JN tried, in several ways, to obtain clarification from the company, but received no response.
The Trade Union of Commerce, Offices and Services Workers of Portugal (CESP) believes that it is "reprisals" for having been "a picket on December 24, 2022", an action that resulted in an "attack on the union delegate", can be read in a statement distributed to the Press.
In statements to JN, Nelson Campos said that in that supermarket there are other cases of "persecution", but colleagues "remain silent for fear of reprisals. He adds that there is "a culture of guilt and fear".
CESP also claims that "workers suffer excessive pressure with exponential increases in tasks". LuÃs Figueiredo, representative of the union, told JN that, "many times, they work up to ten consecutive days", because the changes of schedules and leaves of absence do not comply with the legal provisions and are made "at the last minute and on the last minute".
"All of Mercadona's union delegates have left this way, under pressure", LuÃs Figueiredo also accuses. In the statement, CESP also points out that the company has followed "a discriminatory internal salary policy", leading to more recent workers advancing in salary levels more quickly than older ones.