The president of the Board of Directors (PCA) of Lusa, Joaquim Carreira, considered this Monday “untimely” and “reductive” the news about the voluntary termination plan at the news agency, highlighting that this is “just one” of several planned measures.
“In light of the news that has become public about the voluntary departure plan — just one of the several measures included in the Action Plan for Social Communication — the Administration is hereby clarifying the situation, considering this news to be extemporaneous and reducing the future of Lusa”, maintains the PCA in a note sent today to Lusa workers.
Joaquim Carreira highlights that with the exception of the first measure, which “will only now be completed, with the acquisition of all financial holdings”, this action plan “is still under analysis between the supervision and the Lusa Administration”.
Maintaining that the terms and conditions of the remaining three measures with the greatest budgetary impact have yet to be “defined and agreed upon”, the PCA guarantees that “they will be presented to the TSOs [órgãos representativos dos trabalhadores] as soon as there is an agreement in principle”.
The Lusa administration also clarifies that a budget for the Action Plan for Social Communication was included in the State Budget report for 2026 (OE2026), denying that there is “a plan for terminations of eight million euros with VAT included”.
“In order for any measure to be implemented, it is necessary to define the value of the Compensatory Indemnity (IC) in the Public Service Provision Contract for the coming years, between the Minister of the Presidency, the Minister of Finance and Lusa, depending on the strategic objectives and the measures contained in the Plan for subsequent approval by the Court of Auditors”, he emphasizes.
The PCA also states that, in addition to the “possibility of voluntary departures” – which it describes as a “form of renewal, adaptation and reinforcement of the writing in new skills and areas most in need” –, Lusa presented to the guardianship “several contributions and proposals for its future that are still under analysis”.
As examples, he points to the acquisition of financial holdings, the approval of new statutes and a governance model, with new corporate bodies, and the review of the Company Agreement, particularly careers and salary tables.
It also refers to the implementation of training programs for the requalification of workers, the reinforcement of technology and applications in the editorial, commercial and financial areas and the definition of benefits for the media, identifying eligible services and entities.
On Thursday, the unions representing Lusa workers (unions of Journalists, Workers in the Service Sector and Manufacturing Industries, Energy and Environmental Activities, Center-South and Autonomous Regions) sent a note announcing the holding of a plenary, after “the president of Lusa [ter] in advance that he presented to the guardianship a plan for the departure of workers by agreement”.
“We learned that while we were negotiating, it was already planned to terminate workers and the unions were never informed of this”, reads the joint statement sent to workers.
The following day, Joaquim Carreira confirmed, in statements to Lusa, that a “voluntary departure plan” is being analyzed: “It is necessary to qualify, it is necessary to renew and, logically, there could be something called, it is not terminations, it is a voluntary departure plan”.
The unions, however, called a plenary session for next Thursday, at 3:30 pm, at the news agency’s headquarters in Lisbon.
These statements come after the announcement, in the OE2026 proposal, of a restructuring plan for Lusa worth eight million euros which, according to the agency’s PCA, after the VAT discount, translates into around six million euros, with funds allocated to various areas of the company.