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Portugal faced severe disruptions to transport, flights, hospitals, schools and other public services on Thursday as two main union confederations staged a general strike over unprecedented labor reforms.
The last time the CGTP and the generally less aggressive UGT joined forces was during the eurozone debt crisis in 2013, when the troika of international agencies demanded wage and pension cuts as part of Portugal’s bailout.
Twelve years later, Portugal’s economy has become the fastest growing in the euro zone in recent months, but Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said it was still necessary to address “rigidities” in the labor market “so that companies can make more profits and workers can get better wages”.
“I will not give up on a country that has the ambition to be the vanguard of Europe,” he said on the eve of the strike.
However, Montenegro seemed surprised by the opposition to the plans of its minority center-right government: one of his Social Democratic MPs is a UGT executive, and even he voted for the strike.
Late last month, the Prime Minister tweaked some of the proposals after calling the federations for talks, but it was clearly not enough.
The most controversial of more than 100 proposals are:
- Let employers extend temporary contracts for consecutive years
- Lift the ban on firing workers and immediately rehire them indirectly through outsourcing
- The requirement to reinstate an unfairly dismissed employee has been removed.
Portuguese people in their 20s are likely to be the most affected by these changes, but perceptions are quite mixed.
Diogo Brito, who works as a flight attendant but has friends working casual jobs in the tourism industry, supports the right to strike but also the package: “It has to be done. We have to catch up with richer countries and with these measures I think we can make greater progress.”
But self-employed photographer Eduardo Ferreira said he knew many people who could no longer find stable work and he was happy to see unions uniting at a “critical moment” in Portugal: “Things have been difficult since the Troika and workers have only now reacted.”
The CGTP condemned the scheme as a “violation of the rights of all workers, especially women and young people”, while the UGT said it was “so ill-timed in the context of economic growth, financial stability and a strong labor market that… it reflects a clear bias in favor of employers”.
The UGT also complained that formal negotiations between unions, government and business were “unbalanced, restrictive and disadvantageous to workers”.
Montenegro’s ruling coalition, which lacks a majority in parliament, is seeking support not only from the small free-market Liberal Initiative party (IL) but also from the far-right Chega party, which has been the second-largest party since May elections.
The group’s leader, André Ventura, expressed reservations about the way some measures might affect family life but seemed open to negotiations.
Before the election, Montenegro had ruled out a deal with Chega, with unions and the third-largest party, the Socialist Party, saying the prime minister’s mask had fallen off.
They also warn that right-wing politicians want to change Portugal’s 1976 constitution to loosen Europe’s strongest job guarantees.
The issue has also become a focus in January’s presidential election, with several candidates arguing that the labor reform bill flouts Portugal’s 1976 constitution.
Under Portugal’s “semi-presidential” system, the head of state can refuse to sign bills approved by parliament. Instead, the bill can be sent to the Constitutional Court for review, or the president can exercise his veto power, which, although it can be overturned by a majority of elected members, can delay the process and ensure further discussion.
As the government seeks to overhaul large parts of labor law, such scrutiny is likely to stoke voter unease about its activism, especially since the plans did not appear in the coalition’s election manifesto.
Unlike many strikes here, Thursday’s action is not limited to the public sector.
Nearly 1,000 employees at Volkswagen-owned Autoeuropa, Portugal’s largest factory south of Lisbon, voted unanimously last week in favor of the plan.
“I am convinced that there is not a single worker in this country who is not affected by the negative measures in this reform,” UGT Secretary General Mário Mourão said after the Autoeuropa meeting. “There must be an appropriate response to this.”
