The latest major concern to be taken over by workers in Portugal is the country's national airline, TAP. Employees are pressing for an immediate GBP2.4 million sterling wage settlement, and they're besieging senior members of management in their headquarters until they get it.

On Wednesday (25 June), about 3,000 workers kept the three executives -- two military officers and one civilian -- trapped in their offices, while a skeleton staff maintained services at Lisbon Airport.

Workers say their wage claim has been under negotiation for 15 months, and their present action won't end until it's resolved.

Although the besieged administrators say they sympathise with their captors' demands, they claim they have no powers to settle the dispute. And it seems unlikely that a solution can be found before Prime Minister Vasco Goncalves returns from the Mozambique Independence ceremonies this week.

The armed forces placed the airline under martial law last august to end the first strike by TAP workers.