{"id":44673,"date":"2025-12-11T00:44:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T00:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=44673"},"modified":"2025-12-11T00:44:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T00:44:12","slug":"cdxwrvl1734oat_mediumrssat_campaignrss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2025\/12\/11\/cdxwrvl1734oat_mediumrssat_campaignrss\/","title":{"rendered":"Portugal braced for mass disruption in first general strike for 12 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Portugal is facing severe disruption to transport, flights, hospitals, schools and other public services on Thursday, as the two main union federations stage a general strike over unprecedented labour reforms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The last time the CGTP and the generally less militant UGT joined forces was during the eurozone debt crisis in 2013, when a &#8220;troika&#8221; of international institutions demanded cuts in salaries and pensions as part of Portugal&#8217;s bailout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Twelve years later, Portugal&#8217;s economy has become the fastest growing in the eurozone in recent months, but Prime Minister Lu\u00eds Montenegro says it is still necessary to tackle &#8220;rigidities&#8221; in the labour market &#8220;so companies can be more profitable and workers have better salaries&#8221; as a result.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;I will not give up on having a country with the ambition to be at the forefront, to be at the vanguard of Europe,&#8221; he said on the eve of the strike.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">However, Montenegro appears to have been taken aback by the strength of feeling against his minority right-of-centre government&#8217;s plans: one of his Social Democrat MPs is on the UGT executive and even he voted for a strike.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The prime minister tweaked some proposals after calling the federation in for talks late last month, but it was clearly not enough.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Among the most controversial of the more than 100 proposals are:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"sc-6f869981-0 diUlgm\">\n<li class=\"sc-734a601e-0 cRgahm\">letting employers roll over temporary contracts for years on end<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-734a601e-0 cRgahm\">lifting a ban on sacking workers then immediately rehiring them indirectly via outsourcing<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-734a601e-0 cRgahm\">removing a requirement to reinstate employees who were unfairly dismissed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">It is Portuguese in their 20s who are likely to be most affected by the changes &#8211; and opinion is rather mixed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Diogo Brito, who works as an air steward but has friends who do casual work in tourism, supports the right to strike but backs the package: &#8220;It has to be done. We have to catch up with richer countries and with these measures I think we can evolve more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">But self-employed photographer Eduardo Ferreira says he knows many people who already cannot find secure jobs and is pleased to see the unions unite at a &#8220;critical moment&#8221; for Portugal: &#8220;Things have been tough ever since the troika, and workers haven&#8217;t reacted until now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The CGTP has condemned the package as &#8220;an assault on the rights of all workers, particularly women and young people&#8221;, while the UGT calls it &#8220;so out of step, in a context of economic growth, financial stability and a strong labour market, that\u2026 it reflects a clear bias in favour of employers&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The UGT also complains that formal talks between unions, government and business were &#8220;unbalanced, restrictive and detrimental to workers&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Montenegro&#8217;s governing coalition lacks a majority in parliament, and is seeking support for the bill not only from the small, free-market Liberal Initiative (IL) but from hard-right Chega, which since May&#8217;s general election has been the second-largest party. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Its leader, Andr\u00e9 Ventura, has expressed reservations about the way some measures might affect family life, but looks open to negotiations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Before the election, Montenegro had ruled out deals with Chega, and the unions and the third-biggest party, the Socialists, say the prime minister&#8217;s mask has slipped.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">They also warn that politicians on the right want to amend Portugal&#8217;s 1976 constitution to loosen employment safeguards considered among Europe&#8217;s strongest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The issue has also become caught up in the campaign for January&#8217;s presidential election, with several candidates arguing that the labour reform bill flouts Portugal&#8217;s 1976 constitution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Under Portugal&#8217;s &#8220;semi-presidential&#8221; system, the head of state can decline to sign bills approved by parliament. Bills can instead be sent to the Constitutional Court for review or the president can exercise a veto that, while it can be overturned by a majority of elected MPs, delays the process, ensuring further discussion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">With the government seeking to overhaul so much of the labour code, such scrutiny might stoke voter unease about its radicalism, particularly since the plans were not in the coalition&#8217;s election manifesto.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Unlike many strikes here, Thursday&#8217;s day of action is not limited to the public sector. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">At Portugal&#8217;s largest factory, VW-owned Autoeuropa, south of Lisbon, almost 1,000 employees voted unanimously last week to back it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;I believe there is no worker in this country unaffected by the negative measures in this reform,&#8221; said UGT secretary-general M\u00e1rio Mour\u00e3o, after the Autoeuropa gathering. &#8220;It must be responded to appropriately.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Portugal #braced #mass #disruption #general #strike #years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Portugal is facing severe disruption to transport, flights, hospitals, schools and other public services on Thursday, as the two main&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44675,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44673\/revisions\/44675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}