A leading union has claimed that the salaries of employees from regional supermarket chain Alisuper have been overdue for two months following the insolvency announced in August by the Alicoop group which controls the chain.
According to Portuguese news agency Lusa, the Alicoop group, Cooperative de Produtos Alimentares controls Alisuper, Macral and Geneco, which have around 500 employees between them, the majority of whom work in the Alisuper supermarkets across the Algarve.
Around one million euros is allegedly owed to employees in late salaries from September, October and November, as well as additional subsidies.
Manuel Gomes Peres, a spokesman for the workers’ union Sindicato de Trabalhadores do Comercio, Escritórios e Serviços de Portugal told Lusa that following the announcement of the group’s insolvency, the employees are waiting for the Fundo de Guarantia Salarial, salary guarantee fund, to advance part of the salaries.
He added that Alicoop has a project to restructure the group to maintain all current jobs. “It is preferable that the company continues, even in new moulds, maintaining the current jobs,” he told Lusa.
The union had planned a strike in August, which was cancelled after the conclusions of an external audit showed that the companies were viable.
At the time the Algarve Resident went to press on Wednesday no-one from Alicoop was available for comment.
