Lisbon Metro Strike Called Off After Last-Minute Agreement Between Unions and Management

Second 24-Hour Stoppage in a Week Averted After Monday Night Deal

The 24-hour strike on the Lisbon Metro scheduled for Tuesday, 14 April, was called off on Monday evening after the Federação dos Sindicatos de Transportes e Comunicações (Fectrans) and the Metro de Lisboa administration reached a last-minute agreement. Passengers can expect normal service throughout the day.

The cancellation came just hours before the stoppage was due to begin. The first strike in the two-day sequence — held on Wednesday, 9 April — went ahead as planned and caused severe disruption across the network, with most lines operating at minimal or zero capacity for the full 24-hour period. No minimum services had been declared for either date.

What the Workers Were Demanding

Fectrans had called the strikes over a cluster of long-standing grievances centred on pay, career progression, and working conditions. Among the specific demands were a meaningful salary increase to compensate for the erosion of purchasing power since 2022, the unfreezing of career advancement pathways that have been stalled for years, and improvements to scheduling and rest-period rules that unions say are causing burnout and staff shortages.

Metro de Lisboa employs approximately 1,800 workers across its four lines — Blue, Yellow, Green, and Red — which together carry around 500,000 passengers on a typical weekday. A full-day shutdown forces hundreds of thousands of commuters onto already congested bus and road networks, with knock-on delays across the city.

What Was Agreed

Neither side has released the full details of the agreement, but Fectrans indicated that the administration committed to a concrete timeline for salary negotiations, a review of career progression mechanisms, and a working group on scheduling reforms. The union described the commitments as "sufficient to justify the suspension of strike action" while reserving the right to resume industrial action if the promised measures are not implemented within the agreed timeframe.

Metro de Lisboa's administration released a brief statement confirming that an understanding had been reached and thanking passengers for their patience during last week's disruption.

Context: A Wave of Transport Strikes Across Portugal

The Lisbon Metro dispute is part of a broader wave of industrial action sweeping Portugal's transport sector. Workers at CP — Comboios de Portugal, the national rail operator — have staged several partial strikes in recent months over similar pay and staffing grievances. Bus operators in Lisbon and Porto have also threatened action ahead of the summer peak.

The pattern reflects a wider tension in Portugal's post-pandemic economy: while headline growth has been positive and unemployment remains low by historical standards, real wages in the public and semi-public sector have failed to keep pace with the cumulative inflation of the past four years. For workers in essential services, the gap between cost-of-living increases and salary adjustments has become a source of mounting frustration.

For commuters and visitors, the immediate takeaway is good news: Tuesday's metro service will run normally. But the underlying issues are far from resolved, and further disruption remains possible if the agreement's commitments are not honoured.

Sources: SAPO, Sol, Magg, Fectrans