Lisbon Metro Workers Secure Landmark Deal Cutting Hours, Raising Pay

Lisbon’s underground railway just rewrote its own rule-book. Commuters will hardly notice today, yet the deal hammered out this week between the Metropolitano de Lisboa and its unions reshapes pay, hours and career paths for the people who keep the tunnels moving. From shorter shifts below ground to a bigger slice for lunch, the accord signals a calmer phase after a year of on-again, off-again stoppages.

Why today’s accord matters beyond the depot

A large share of the capital’s 600 000 daily metro riders may wonder why a labour contract should sit on their radar. The answer is simple: better-rested staff and fewer strike threats mean a more reliable service just as the network prepares to extend into Alcântara and Loures. The new Acordo de Empresa, effective immediately and running until 31 December 2030, covers 1 316 employees—from ticket-hall agents to drivers—and locks in rules that unions say remove the main triggers of past walk-outs.

Underground shifts finally shrink

The most tangible win for front-line crews is the cap on weekly hours for anyone working beneath street level. Instead of 40-hour rosters—common until now—platform teams, maintenance crews and drivers will top out at 37 h 30 min per week. Union negotiators pushed this line hard, arguing that heat, vibration and air-quality challenges in the tunnel justify a lighter schedule. Management signed on after costings showed overtime bills had been eating into budgets whenever trains broke down during peak spells. Nothing was traded away in return, the unions insist, calling the clause “historic” for the 66-year-old company.

The money side: from canteen to career ladder

Cash did not headline the talks, yet it remains the point everyone feels. The subsídio de refeição climbs first to €11, then to €12 from November 2025, putting Metro staff ahead of the €9 slaughterhouse workers won earlier this year and on par with several tech parks around Oeiras. Meanwhile, a €63.75 monthly shift premium will cushion those on rotating timetables, with automatic indexation to any future pay-table hikes. Career progression also accelerates: workers missing just one evaluation point will move up a salary notch by March, a bump worth €50-€100 per month. Even long-timers benefit—annual longevity bonuses of €10.06 stay in place up to statutory retirement age.

From picket lines to signature pens

Getting here was messy. In February the company floated a 4.7 % wage-mass rise—roughly €56.58 for pay packets up to €2 631.62—that unions dismissed as “peanuts”. Spring brought rolling stoppages that sliced rush-hour frequency in half on the Yellow and Blue Lines. Talks only thawed after a late-summer plenary backed a common platform, paving the way for 24 September’s membership vote and Monday’s formal signing at the Campo Grande headquarters. FECTRANS called it “the agreement that closes the cycle”, hinting no fresh industrial action is on the horizon.

Still on the platform: unanswered questions

Not everything made it into the final print. Earlier drafts mentioned a new Técnico de Operações de Circulação grade—essentially a fast-track to driver status—but that line vanished, at least for now. Specific shift-pattern reforms and breaks between night duties also await a technical annex promised for early 2026. And outside voices, from passenger groups to political parties, have remained strikingly quiet, perhaps waiting to see whether promised punctuality gains materialise once autumn rains start to test the system.

What it means for Lisbon’s broader mobility puzzle

While the accord changes lives mostly behind the scenes, it dovetails with bigger debates on how to fund and manage urban transport. Navegante passes will hold at current prices in 2025, freezing farebox revenue just as capital spending on new tunnels climbs. City Hall is flirting with land-value capture to bankroll extensions, and critics of the future Circular Line still fear it will degrade direct routes. In that context, a labour peace deal buys the Metro breathing room to focus on expansion rather than fire-fighting. For riders and taxpayers alike, a quieter winter on the rails could be the first dividend of an agreement that, for once, kept the politics largely underground.