The assessment of the first day of a week-long strike was made to Lusa by the president of the Migration Technicians Union, who explained that, so far, "nothing is closed," as projected by the union structure.

"Any strike has to harm those who serve, but the people we serve are already harmed enough. That is why we opted for a one-week strike so that there would not be a total closure of the service points," Manuela Niza told Lusa, admitting, however, that on Friday, 5 June, there may be closed service points.

Many people “joined the first day of the struggle,” but the union president explained that the main objective of this strike is “to draw public attention to the problem at AIMA,” and this objective was achieved.

According to Manuela Niza, AIMA is a structure that “hardly functions, due to management and organisational issues.”

The scenario outlined by the union leader is one in which there is a shortage of employees, and those who still work there are “exhausted and demotivated” because “they are neither liked nor valued.” Employees feel “immense pressure” to serve those who seek them out, but “the system is designed not to produce results,” she accused.

In addition, she added, the working conditions “are miserable”: There are service points “without water to provide to users or employees”; other points where “people die of cold and heat”; points with “ceilings falling down” and others where there is a lack of computers to work with.

The workers are on strike this week to demand a special career path, because "the issue of migration is extremely special," argued Manuela Niza.