What has Autoeuropa and TAP have not – publico

                 

                         
                     

                 

 
                         
                     

                         A delegation led by TAP Fernando Pinto was on Friday to Belém Palace, part of the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the company. Also this week Volkswagen celebrated 20 years of automobile production in Portugal. In addition to age, and aircraft and automobiles, there is much that distinguishes one from the other.

Autoeuropa was born of a joint venture between the North American Ford (50%) and Volkswagen (50%) in 1991, and four years later the Germans were 100% of the factory, a project that has been beneficial both to the Germans for Portugal. The group now employs 3600 staff (and a few more indirectly in companies that gravitate around the industrial park), has a weight of more than 3% in Portuguese exports and represents 1% of GDP.

Two decades ago was the largest foreign investment in Portugal and today the group already is assured of another investment of 677 million euros. Speaking to Lusa, Antonio Melo Pires and Antonio Chora explain what is behind the success. The president of the manufacturer says that one of the secrets are the labor relations: “One should not mix politics with labor relations”, and “has much to do with the fact that they negotiate with a view to needs of the company and workers and not in optics of a national or regional trade union policy. ” Also the representative of workers ensures that “there is a climate of mutual trust” between management and employees, “and most of the country, unfortunately, is not so.”

And in TAP, unfortunately, it’s not like that. While Autoeuropa is preparing to receive this year a new model of Volkswagen, the airline starts this week a strike ten days (yes, ten days) that is not only a new hole in the already weakened accounts of TAP as a huge setback on passenger confidence. While Autoeuropa says that inspired the amendment of own labor law in Portugal, with the introduction of concepts such as flexible working hours, TAP management and unions of pilots are entertained to discuss the strike 1-10 of May will cost 30 million or 70 million. Since one value or another are a multitude in the depleted stock of the company.

This is not about being for or against the privatization that the government is preparing to make, this is an exaggeration and one irreducibility of attitude on the part of pilots and a total inability to achieve an atmosphere of social peace by the management. But we are talking about an administration that was weakened by the results of the bad investments made in maintenance business in Brazil. Pilots and the management not being asked to serve as inspiration to good examples of working code as Autoeuropa; just do not destroy the company, whether it will be privatized want to stay in state hands.