[ad_1]
Groundforce and TAP “reached, minutes ago, an understanding that provisionally unblocks the impasse in the company,” according to a statement sent this Thursday by the ground handling company. The statement does not say anything about the details of the agreement, but, according to the information collected by the PUBLIC, it is about the entry of around seven million euros to the company through the purchase of equipment by TAP (such as vehicles towing aircraft, buses). airport and stairs, among others).
With 50.1% owned by Pasogal, owned by Alfredo Casimiro – and the remaining 49.9% in the hands of TAP – Groundforce has part of the February salary to pay its approximately 2,400 workers and is experiencing financial difficulties. Now, the statement said, “it is possible to find a solution that allows workers to pay wages and end the anguish of 2,400 families.”
“Once the urgency is resolved, Groundforce will continue to do its best, certainly with the support of shareholders Pasogal and TAP, to resolve the fundamental issue,” the statement said.
The airport ground assistance company, of which Alfredo Casimiro is president of the board of directors, assures that he believes that “after these difficult weeks, he will have the speed of the official entities to carry out the loan with the guarantee of the State that will allow to recover, in a permanent way, the normal operation of the company ”. Groundforce requested a loan of 30 million euros from Caixa Geral de Depósito and public guarantees to be issued by Banco de Fomento, without its approval.
The approximately seven million euros linked to the business that has now been announced correspond to the amount that was requested by Groundforce as a service advance, with TAP requesting the presentation of guarantees (after having already made other advances). It was here that the impasse began, which ended up provoking workers’ fear of insolvency.
In exchange for the 6.97 million euros advance, TAP, which is also the company’s main client, requested the Pasogal / Alfredo Casimiro shares as collateral, only to discover that they were already committed to another creditor (that the Fast identified as Montepio), which made this solution unfeasible. Later, TAP proposed a capital increase for that amount, to be subscribed by itself, which would cause Alfredo Casimiro to lose control of the company.
In reaction, the businessman was available for a capital increase, but provided that he could continue the operation. After that, the now announced deal was reached, allowing Groundforce to be given some “oxygen”.
The uncertainty that remains
After a new demonstration by the company’s workers, which took place at the end of this morning in the Lisbon airport area, the deputies of the Economy Commission of the Assembly of the Republic will listen to the structures that they represent the workers, Alfredo Casimiro and the president of the TAP board of directors, Miguel Frasquilho.
Before the deputies, the head of the TAP Group’s Agrarian Union Platform, André Teives, clarified that wages will be regularized on Monday, and the director of Sitava, Fernando Henriques, affirmed that the agreement implies the subsequent rental of equipment by TAP to Groundforce. Catarina Silva, from the Portuguese Transport Workers’ Union (STTAMP), after underlining the importance of wage regularization, questioned what the situation will be like in April and whether or not there will be a guarantee of job retention.
On the part of the Workers’ Commission, Erasmo Vasconcelos stressed that it is not possible to stay with the “situations of uncertainty” that have been experienced, pointing out that there are “cases of hunger”. “We do not understand how this point was reached,” he said, in a context in which there are several public supports linked to the effects of the covid-19 pandemic.
