Portuguese migration and prison technicians will stage national strikes over pay and career terms

Migration workers call national strike over pay parity

Public sector employees at Portugal's Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) will conduct a nationwide strike on Tuesday, 6 October. Called by the Migration Technicians Union (STM), the action includes front-desk staff and cultural mediators seeking formal recognition of their specialized functions. Union officials argue that migration duties require structured initial training, recognition of functional complexity, and salary parity with border-control entities such as the National Republican Guard (GNR) and Public Security Police (PSP). The union also demands an end to precarious contracts for cultural mediators who handle in-person public appointments at agency branches. Furthermore, the STM opposes transferring permanent state responsibilities to Local Support Centres for the Integration of Migrants (CLAIM), contending that delegating core tasks causes delayed, poorly prepared, and legally fragile decisions that increase court cases and pressure on staff.

STM president Manuela Niza Ribeiro stated that the union requested an urgent audience after another ministry acknowledged the technical nature of migration roles, but received no reply.

We want equal treatment. We asked for a meeting and to this day there has been no response.

Leadership instability at AIMA and escalation plans

Administrative uncertainty at AIMA has intensified labor friction following the unannounced departure of agency president Pedro Portugal Gaspar. Staff members learned of Gaspar's exit through media reports without subsequent explanations from the government, while the president continues to work in his position. The STM calls for the urgent appointment of agency leadership with direct experience in migration affairs to provide management stability and technical expertise. Union leadership has pledged to escalate demands to higher political levels if direct ministerial discussions do not occur.

If it is not possible to meet with the Secretary of State, we will seek to reach the Minister and, if necessary, the Prime Minister.

The planned walkout represents the union's second mobilization of the year, following a June strike in which 21 of 700 category workers participated without causing appointment cancellations.

Prison and reinsertion technicians walk out across Portugal

In a separate industrial dispute, the Union of Reinsertion and Prison Services Technicians (SinDGRSP) will stage a national one-day strike on Tuesday, 6 October. Union members will also hold a two-hour demonstration outside the Porto Prison Establishment (EPP) between 11:00 and 13:00. The labor union objects to a government ordinance published on 16 September in Diário da República regarding career restructuring and risk supplements, arguing the final text falls short of terms negotiated in a signed agreement. SinDGRSP representatives told news agency Lusa that the stoppage aims to register staff discontent and reopen government negotiations to correct ongoing salary disparities. The union demands the creation of a special career category for technical assistants, a harmonization of internal supplements, a monthly housing rent allowance, and a risk supplement of 450 euros matching terms granted to other personnel within the Directorate-General for Reinsertion and Prison Services (DGRSP).