“We respect the right to strike, but we believe that we will not have significant impacts and that our stores will be open to serve customers. We do not foresee the closure of any store. Minimum services? They will be normal services,” stated Luís Moutinho in a report by Eco.
Refusing to comment on the changes to labour law that the Government wants to implement and which motivated this strike called by the CGTP and UGT unions – “I say that, within the context that the country allows us, we try to be the best in our class” – the CEO of the distribution company said he is “very confident” in maintaining operations.
Recalling that “the relationship with employees is not new and there have been other strike episodes” in the past, Luís Moutinho, who has led MC for 16 years, also said that he “respects the unions with whom he has a professional relationship”.
But, the manager added, “above all”, the retail company has “a very good relationship with the people” who work at Continente and who he says are “satisfied and happy to work” for the company.
The CEO of Sonae MC made these statements during a meeting with journalists in Porto, where he presented the expansion plan that foresees the opening of 100 more stores with 3,000 jobs on the mainland by the end of the decade, and in which he said that the distributor does not want to “get involved in problems” abroad, after the unsuccessful attempts in Brazil and Angola.