ANDThese workers, who provide services to the company Hospedeiras de Portugal, contracted by the TNSJ, reacted to the statements by the Minister of Culture, made last Wednesday, in parliament, praising the choice of this theater, stating that the Ministry prefers to ignore and condone with an ‘outsourcing’ company that perpetuates insecurity, instability and vulnerability.
Last Wednesday, the Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, praised the “good practice” in the management of the TNSJ, by resorting to temporary work companies, requiring them to conclude employment contracts.
“The Teatro Nacional São João adopted a practice that, in my view, was exemplary, which was to require the companies it hires to provide services to sign employment contracts with workers. There are no green receipts. parliamentary committee on Culture, Communication, Youth and Sport.
Rejecting these statements, the room attendants, who launched the TNSJ Room Persistent Movement on social media to denounce their working conditions, explained that the contracts referred to by the minister are temporary work contracts, normally for three hours, reaching dozens in one only a month and, therefore, do not guarantee any job maintenance security.
“The assistants have a contract for three hours and, as soon as the show ends, they are unemployed until they sign another contract for the following day. This allows for all arbitrariness, retaliation and implies that the assistants live in a regime of insecurity and daily instability, not knowing how what they tell from show to show”, these workers underlined, in a statement sent to the Lusa agency.
This situation of succession of temporary work contracts, for workers, is clearly contrary to what the labor law defines, as they claim.
Adding that, if this “illegal and abusive” practice is considered exemplary by the minister, then there is a “very serious problem” in that ministry which, thus, directly promotes precariousness in the sector.
The room attendants also regretted the “silence” of Pedrão Adão e Silva regarding the allegedly “unjustified” dismissal of four of these workers.
“The Minister of Culture opportunely ignored the dismissal of these four workers, as well as the fact that it was a reprisal by Hospedeiras de Portugal that perpetuates harassing practices”, they stressed.
In March, the TNSJ board of directors assured the Lusa agency that the terms of the contract signed with the temporary work company were being fulfilled and that none of the room assistants who provided services do so within the scope of the so-called ‘green receipts’.
The guarantee came after the workers publicly denounced the case, urging the TNSJ to reverse the decision of the Hospedeiras de Portugal, a temporary work company with which they signed a contract in September 2022.
The TNSJ clarified at the time that “in the contract signed in September 2022, it requires the contracted company to conclude individual employment contracts with all the people who provide this service in the spaces of this National Theater”, a practice that it considers “exemplary and innovative, in national terms”.
Noting that the tender was public and transparent, respecting all the rules required by the Public Contracts Code, the TNSJ Board of Directors referred that the winning company, Hospedeiras de Portugal, provides an effective service to the TNSJ, ensuring the selection and recruitment process room assistants, as well as the training, supervision and organization of services, while complying with the terms of the contract.
The TNSJ, which declined to answer how many theater assistants provide service under these conditions in the institution, underlined that the contracts for the acquisition of theater assistance services are a common practice in most public theaters and national cultural facilities, where needs are ” highly variable”.
Also Read: Adão e Silva praises TNSJ’s “good practice” on temporary work
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