Union leader, Carlos Trin-dade said that the surveillance and security company had complied with all the legal requirements and had informed the workers by letter that they would have to be laid off.
Securitas employs about 6,000 people in Portugal.
The company’s HR director, Jorge Martins, confirmed to Lusa that they were beginning collective lay-off proceedings for 56 employees due to a reduction in their customer base.
“We have seen several contracts being cancelled, particularly in the state sector, so we cannot keep employing all these people”, he said.
Jorge Martins gave the example of state broadcaster RTP, where there used to be 90 Securitas guards.
“RTP decided to go for another surveillance company at a much lower price, that we cannot compete with as it did not even cover our costs”, he said.