The government stands isolated in its attempts to enforce a labor law deemed highly detrimental to workers in a country already burdened by harsh labor conditions, with long working hours and low wages, criticized Catarina Martins.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency during a visit to the Association for the Protection of Diabetics of Portugal (APDP) in Lisbon, the MEP and former coordinator of the Left Bloc argued that the draft labor legislation reform proposed by Luís Montenegro’s administration is doomed from the outset.
“I think what is needed is for the government to back down,” she asserted.
Catarina Martins also criticized some opponents in the presidential race, noting that she has heard other presidential candidates asking unions and workers, who are fighting for their rights, to retreat.
“It’s absurd. It is necessary to say that the government must back down because it is already defeated,” she argued.
The presidential candidate stated that President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has already communicated to the government that the law is unfeasible as it stands and noted that social-democratic workers voted for the general strike, called by union centers CGTP-IN and UGT for December 11.
“I don’t understand how a presidential candidate can think it’s a good idea to pressure a union to stop fighting for workers’ rights in Portugal. Workers in Portugal already have very few rights, precarious work is very common, wages are already very low, people have very little ability to balance work with their family life,” she stated.
In Catarina Martins’ view, worsening these conditions will not solve any problems.
“I am well aware that there are presidential candidates who believe their role is to defend big economic interests and perhaps the PSD and CDS-PP government. I believe the role of a presidential candidate, and especially a President of the Republic, is to defend those who live by their work in Portugal,” she argued.
During this visit to the APDP premises on World Diabetes Day, Catarina Martins also called for the concept of a national health pact to be made concrete.
“The expression ‘health pact’ is absolutely empty, and if we continue to discuss access to health in the same terms we have been, we will not solve the problem,” she warned.
Catarina Martins proposed a greater prioritization of professions other than just doctors, citing nurses as an example.
“I believe that nurses today have a high level of specialization; so many choose to emigrate because they don’t feel valued in Portugal, and they could be the key to unlocking access to health,” she emphasized, calling for appreciation of their careers.
The presidential candidate rejected ongoing debate on health being solely centered on “doctors and hospitals,” emphasizing that both “are very necessary, must be reformed, and must be very well treated.”
“But if we are not capable of moving away from a solely ‘hospital-centric’ perspective, we will not solve the problem,” she asserted.
