The employees of the Portuguese news agency Lusa today started a four-day strike demanding wage increases.

An advisory note sent to Lusa customers at midnight local time says “services may be disrupted during this period”.

Demonstrations are planned for today in front of Lusa’s headquarters in Lisbon and at the agency’s offices in Porto. Tomorrow Friday, a rally is planned in front of the official residence of the Portuguese Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

The three unions of the agency’s workers decided to go on strike after a meeting they had on Wednesday in which the management’s proposal for a wage increase was deemed insufficient.

Management did not want to go beyond a 74 euro salary increase for each agency associate. But the employees are demanding an increase of at least 120 euros in order to recover part of what they lost as their wages remain “frozen” for 12 years, according to a statement from the journalists’ union.

For its part, the government, which owns 50.15% of Lusa’s share capital, has informed the unions that it is unable to raise wages.

Lusa, which has a strong presence in Portuguese-speaking countries, employs at least 250 journalists and produces around 800 journalistic texts per day addressed to just over 800 clients.

In 2021, Lusa recorded profits of €384,000, four times more than in 2020.