Portugal was experiencing severe disruption to transport, aviation, hospitals, schools and other public services on Thursday as two major union confederations staged a general strike against unprecedented labor reforms.
The last time CGTP and the generally less militant UGT joined forces was during the 2013 eurozone debt crisis. At this time, a “troika” of international organizations called for salary and pension cuts as part of Portugal’s bailout.
Twelve years later, Portugal’s economy has grown at the fastest rate in the euro zone in recent months, but Montenegrin Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said the country still needed to address ‘rigidities’ in the labor market to ensure businesses were more profitable and workers were better paid.
“I will not give up on having a country that has the ambition to be at the forefront and at the forefront of Europe,” he said the day before the strike.
But Montenegro appears to have been taken aback by the strong sentiment against the minority center-right government’s plans. One of his Social Democratic Party members supports the UGT administration and he even voted for the strike.
The Prime Minister revised some of the proposals after summoning the League to talks late last month, but they clearly did not go far enough.
Of the more than 100 proposals, the most controversial are:
- Allowing employers to extend temporary contracts for several years
- After lifting the ban on firing employees, immediately rehire them indirectly and through outsourcing.
- Eliminates the requirement to reinstate wrongfully terminated employees.
Those most likely to be affected by these changes are Portuguese people in their 20s, but opinions are somewhat mixed.
Diogo Britto, who works as an airline steward but has friends who do temporary work in the tourism industry, supports the package while supporting the right to strike. “The strike must happen. We need to catch up with richer countries and I think these measures will help us advance further.”
But Eduardo Ferreira, a self-employed photographer, said he knew many people already unable to find stable work and was glad the union was standing together at a “crucial moment” for Portugal. “The situation has been difficult since the Troika and the workers have not responded so far.”
The CGTP condemned the bill as “an attack on the rights of all workers, especially women and young people,” while the UGT said it was “so misaligned with the context of economic growth, financial stability and strong labor markets… that it reflects a clear bias in favor of employers.”
UGT also complains that formal dialogue between unions, government and businesses is “unbalanced, limited and harmful to workers.”
Montenegro’s ruling coalition does not have a majority in parliament and is seeking support for the bill not only from the small free-market Liberal Party, but also from Chega, a far-right party that became the second largest party after general elections last May.
Its leader, André Ventura, appears open to negotiations, although he has expressed doubts about the way some measures could affect family life.
Before the election, Montenegro ruled out a deal with Chega, and unions and the third-largest Socialist Party said the prime minister had been unmasked.
They also warned that right-wing politicians want to amend Portugal’s 1976 constitution to relax employment protections, considered the strongest in Europe.
The issue was also addressed in the January presidential election campaign, with several candidates claiming the labor reform bill overrides Portugal’s 1976 constitution.
Portugal’s ‘semi-presidential’ system allows the head of state to refuse to sign legislation approved by parliament. Instead, the bill could be sent to the Constitutional Court for review or vetoed by the president. A veto can be overturned by a majority of elected members, but the delay in the process ensures further discussion.
With the government seeking to overhaul many of its labor laws, such scrutiny could add to voters’ anxieties about radicalism. Especially since the plan was not included in the Coalition’s election manifesto.
Unlike many strikes here, Thursday’s strike day is not limited to the public sector.
At Volkswagen-owned Autoeuropa, Portugal’s largest plant south of Lisbon, nearly 1,000 employees voted unanimously last week to support it.
“I don’t think there is a worker in this country who is not affected by the negative measures of this reform,” said UGT Secretary-General Mário Mourão after the Autoeuropa meeting. “We must respond appropriately.”
