Sorry, dont agree with your argument. They are not fighting for resources or improvements, they are fighting for more money āperiodā. Except they dont want to earn that money, they just want it to be handed over to them on a platter all the while being acknowledged, appreciated and made to feel good doing a shitty job at the only thing that they are supposed to do.
That they are more organised and have better political representation than GV applicants is a givenā¦how else do you expect cartels to operate?
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You donāt have to rant at me about unions, Iām no fan.
Have you read the dn article? Google translate for the key paragraph
According to the document to which DN had access, the situation at AIMA is āunacceptableā and employees are seeing their ārights and healthā affected. Among the concerns is the lack of workers and burnout ādue to the excessive number of overtime hours and the lack of workers in all sectorsā.
They want more workers to process the amount of work they have. Thatās good for us. Sure, they want them to be union workers, but frankly thatās a minor quibble compared to not having enough workers of any type. Weāre on the same side as them in this case
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If their rights have been violated, I suggest each AIMA employee joins the lotto and files an individual lawsuit.
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How nice for you that you donāt like unions. That speaks volumes.
You donāt know anything about how hard these workersā jobs are. You have no idea what work they are told to do, and what work they are told to put aside. There are many factors at play, and we are not privy to them.
Proof is in the pudding. There are no results to show for the AIMA or erstwhile SEF. That these employees do not care about what we think is not lost on us.
2 years in the waiting for pre-approval is good enough an evidence.
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Youāre probably right about AIMA workersā political representation being a positive development for overall immigration reform and maybe even our fates, but thereās no sympathy in my heart for the people who choose to shove our applications in a drawer and forget about them for years just because they can.
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Honestly, how does this strike even affect us in the first place? In anycase, no pre-approvals were being handed over last 6 months. GV applicants are like step-children to AIMA and Portugal government.
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It is more of a behavioral issue.
Looks like itās a cultural trait to dislike working overtime even though there is overtime pay. In other countries/cultures, OT is welcome as itās an opportunity to earn more money or save.
The article said they were working overtime but not being paid for it. Thatās wage theft.
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Sorry, I was basing my statement on the article about EasyJet strike wherein it states:
Reasons for the action include a lack of roster stability, insufficient staffing and pressure to work overtime for commercial purposes
Iām not sure if āfor commercial purposesā meant OT without pay, but I agree that no one should be forced to work OT without pay.
I dont think a government body in a european country can be made to work overtime without extra allowance, no matter what the article says. Maybe someone higher up in AIMA or government asked some hard questions on performance and productivity or had plans to automate/ outsource some parts of the residency process, hence, the strikes.
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Ohk! It doesnt even surprise me anymore.
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One tiny fruit appears on the barren AIMA tree. Fingers crossed that this worksā¦
Immigrants have already started to be called by (AIMA) for assistance through the mission structure announced by the Government in July. Citizens are receiving emails from AIMA with new scheduling guidelines and to resubmit documents that had recently been submitted on the platform. The deadline for submitting documentation ends tomorrow [5-Sept.], according to the email to which DN had access.
It is further explained that the mission structure āis developing new procedures, new information systems and creating service centres throughout the country, which will allow migrant citizens to be regularised more quickly and safelyā. Some of the users notified by AIMA already had an appointment scheduled at a traditional centre. The guidance in the email is that this initial date should be ādisregardedāā¦
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DN published an interview yesterday (14th) with the Deputy Secretary of State for the Presidency, Rui Freitas. AIMA falls under his remit.
Not a single mention of GV (surprise!). Hopefully weāll benefit from the extra resources being put on, but also note the strong preference for CPLP immigrants.
Highlights:
- [of the planned extra 350 bods for the 1-year āMission Structure,ā about 25% are in place] - Today, we have around 90 more people in the Mission Structure, who are not only AIMA staff.
- Which ten municipalities have already signed the protocol? [to have new AIMA service points] - I would prefer not to disclose it yet, but the coming weeks will be full of new developments and we will continue to provide information.
- we used to have access to the SEF report on the number of foreigners in Portugal. It has not been published yet, but it will beā¦ - It will be in the next few daysā¦ but we are talking about data from 2023 that do not account for the 400,000 pending cases, because in relation to those, which we inherited from the previous Government, there is no information, no statistics on what we have there. That is why this is an urgent matter for us. [Later in the interview he would/could not answer how many people have been and will be regularised in 2024, despite being asked a few different ways.]
- renewal of expired residence cards. When will the online portal be open for these automatic renewals? - There will be new developments in this entire process very soon, as it is at a very advanced stage of completion. In June, we extended the validity of these documentsā¦ We also want to transfer renewals to AIMA. Including IRN does not make much sense to us. But the IRN is still responsible for renewals. As part of this broader restructuring, it will be transferred to AIMA. Very quickly, we will also have to deal with this legacy
- AIMA phones are not answered and the emails are not replied to. How do you plan to solve this? - The competition for a call centre is at an advanced stage and will be held in the next few days.
- Brazil, with over 200 million inhabitants, Angola 35 million, Mozambique 32 million. This is for a country [Portugal] with 10 million inhabitants. ā¦ Are our public services, for example, able to respond to this potential influx of these immigrants? - ā¦for this government, the CPLP will be discriminated in a positive way. We believe that a common language and a common past greatly facilitates the family network that already exists in Portugal. ā¦ Without people there is no economy. And we really need and will give priority to the CPLP.
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Not at all surprising that theyāre focusing on the majority of cases instead of a small minority, especially when the GV people tend to draw ire and cause public uproar.
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hmm i wonder who is competing with locals for housingā¦a relative handful of wealthy foreigners or hundreds of thousands of people from brazil?
(maybe all the brazilian immigrants are wealthy too, i dunno)
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To be clear: Costa and PT politicians used us as scapegoats to re-direct ire and public uproar.
We havenāt done anythingāother than take PT at its word and make the good-faith investments that IT directed us to makeāto cause those negative feelings.
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Iām not making a value judgement on whether the hate directed at immigrants of any sort is good or correct, just pointing out that the government isnāt going to want to make anything any more contentious with the voters than it already is
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