In a statement announcing the strike, the Nature and Environment Protection Service of the GNR (SEPNA/GNR) want "the definition of a specific pay scale for the professional career of forest rangers," and "the establishment of pay supplements, namely for carrying out the functions of forest rangers and for working in forest protection teams.

They also demanded the "creation of the Forest Guard Corps, with adequate hierarchical and functional autonomy".

The strike by the GNR's Nature and Environmental Protection Service guards was called by the National Federation of Trade Unions of Public and Social Service Workers.

The federation says it waited until 10 August for a response from the Secretary of State for Civil Protection, to whom it says it had sent proposals "to be debated in a calendar of meetings between 27 August and 7 October".

As it has not received a reply "it has decided to go ahead with a 24-hour paralysis" on Sunday, the day of the reopening of hunting for various game species.

The forestry commission have already held a one-day strike and a sit-in outside the ministry, in Terreiro do Paço, Lisbon, on 15 July, also to demand that the Government becomes open to negotiations to resolve the claims presented.