"Decent remuneration to the employees in view of the current cost of living" is one of the "demands" of the strikers printed on one of the posters posted at the central management of the public company, in Luanda.
Scattered across all the distribution centers in the capital, dozens of workers guarantee to cross their arms during this first phase of the strike, which lasts until next Saturday, also asking for the "valorization of human resources".
In statements to the press, the spokesman for the union committee of ENDE workers, Cardoso Gamboa, regretted the "silence" of the employer in the face of the clamor of employees that lasts for a year.
"We are asking for a 100 percent wage increase. It's important to point out that in every kind of wage increase there are negotiations, but what amazes us is that during this time of negotiations with management we have presented our proposals, but we have never received a counterproposal from management," said the unionist.
The "agreements" on food subsidies, transportation and rent, explained Cardoso Gamboa, "have not been implemented so far", a fact that "translates as a reason for discontent among workers".
The management of ENDE considered Friday "illegal" the strike called by workers and admitted advancing with a lawsuit.
In a note made public, the board of ENDE expressed "total repudiation for the lack of rigor in the grounds for the strike," for "not complying with the assumptions" provided in the Law of the Strike.
The administration of the public company announced that the demands of the second set of claims, "after compliance with the first set, were fully met with the exception of the proposed wage increase in the order of 100 percent".
For ENDE, the signatories of the strike declaration "insist on following a path of manifest folly and, perhaps, other purposes unacknowledged, with the aggravating factor of not complying with the assumptions of the Law of the Strike".
The board of ENDE "reserves the right to take all measures to affirm the illegality of the call to strike, also appealing to the common sense of the workers not to join the strike movement, under penalty of incurring in illegalities".
This Monday, the strikers guaranteed to maintain the protests until Saturday not fearing any legal action.
"As for taking employees or unions to court this is a matter for the company and if the same said it will take (the matter in court) we can only wait," said Cardoso Gamboa.
According to ENDE, the reasons for refusing the wage increase, whose current revenues of the company do not cover operating costs, were thoroughly analyzed in joint meetings between the management and the union.
The president of ENDE's board, Helder Adao, said on Friday at a press conference that the company has the highest operating costs in the sector, noting that it has average revenues of about 6.5 billion kwanzas.
ENDE, which has over 4500 workers, is under the Ministry of Energy and Water.
