Portugal’s Sima union, which represents workers employed by Menzies (formerly Groundforce), issued a new strike notice on Tuesday (19 August) as part of an ongoing dispute over pay, Portuguese title Publico reports.

The new strike notice follows two weekends of pre-planned action over 25-28 July and 8-11 August, which prompted a warning from the Foreign Office.

Further walkouts were planned for 15-18 August, 22-25 August and 29 August to 1 September, but these have now been suspended following talks between the union and Portugal’s labour ministry.

However, the new strike notice threatens fresh action starting Wednesday 3 September. The first proposed strike will take place over 3-9 September, with further strikes being held every weekend through to mid-December.

The action will culminate over the Christmas and New Year period when workers represented by Sima down tools on 19 December until 2 January 2026. Sima claims some of its members are being paid below the national minimum wage.

Should the strikes go ahead, they will affect Portugal’s three main airports in Lisbon, Porto and Faro, as well as island airports Funchal (Madeira) and Ponta Delgada (Azores). Menzies is understood to employ around 3,500 workers in Portugal.