At that distribution centre, which serves the municipalities of Loulé and São Brás de Alportel, "thousands of letters" are currently waiting to be distributed, as employees "have no capacity" to deliver them, Lusa Fernando Lima, of the National Union of Postal and Telecommunications Workers told Lusa.

According to Fernando Lima, there are reports of residents in S. Brás de Alportel who have been cut off for not receiving their bills in time to pay, and last week, the Loulé Industrial Zone "was the entire week without distribution of mail".

Delayed delivery of letters, which can be up to two weeks in the case of a letter sent to an address within the same municipality, is making the situation "very serious" and there have even been cases of officials "threatened" due to the " despair "of users.

The distribution centere currently has 33 employees, but ten are absent from the service due to downtime or holidays, and at least six additional employees are required to ensure mail distribution.

CTT has temporarily hired some staff for short periods only, but there are "not enough workers" to replace those who are absent.

According to Fernando Lima, the distribution of letters is now being guaranteed "by company directors and heads of other distribution centres".

The adhesion to the strike of the employees of the Distribution Center of Loulé, which began on Thursday and ends today, was around 90%, concluded the union leader.