A full honkathon drive-by was taking place this afternoon in support of Marilu Santana who chained herself to to the stairway of Clube Praia da Rocha, Portimão thirteen days ago in an uncomfortable protest over unpaid wages.
Management company Green Stairs owes around €40,000 in pay for contracted staff from last year and says it will not have any money until this June.
The company boss Paulo Martins admits that 30 staff remain unpaid from last October when their contracts ended, in the meantime he has taken on new staff for this season who are against the protests.
Santana is chained to the stairwell railings and former staff are sleeping outside the club - today’s loud car protest around the local streets has added some volume to the dispute which seems no closer to a sensible resolution.
The honkathon, or buzinão, left Clube Praia da Rocha and crawled along the nearby streets of Portimão.
The protest was organised by Algarve Hospitality Trade Union and the Union of the Algarve Trade Unions which this week launched a petition for the "payment of wage arrears to workers at Clube Praia da Rocha."
The union leaders want "the intervention of the public authorities in order to guarantee payment by the company of wage arrears to workers of Clube Praia da Rocha."
Tourists using the resort are well aware of the protest in the club's foyer area and Marilou Santana is adamant that the only way she is moving is when she gets paid.
Her case has been discussed in parliament as the Communists and Left Bloc pushed to government to do something.
The result was a predictable zero and the single mother has another two months sleeping on the stairs to look forward to.
