The President of the Portuguese Assembly defended today that dialogue and debate “must be fully exhausted” before proceeding with the general strike, scheduled for December 11 by the CGTP and UGT.
“As my role in the Assembly of the Republic requires, I support dialogue and debate. Dialogue and debate must be fully exhausted before a strike situation arises. I believe and hope that this space for dialogue can still take place and have its most effective result in preventing the strike from happening,” urged José Pedro Aguiar Branco.
In comments to journalists, during a visit to the Polymer Engineering Innovation Center (PIEP) at the University of Minho, Campus of Azurém in Guimarães, District of Braga, the Assembly President said it is “a consensus issue” that changes in labor areas are necessary.
Aguiar Branco emphasized there are now new work formats and technologies, suggesting the need to approach this topic with normality and to discuss it.
“Between the debate and dialogue that must exist, between the consensus regarding the necessity for changes in this area, and what is also normal, having a parliamentary majority elected to make changes and not to leave everything the same, I think that in this democratic framework, we should face it with normality. And that is what I hope happens,” stated Aguiar Branco.
The general strike was announced on November 8 by CGTP Secretary-General Tiago Oliveira, following the national march against the labor package, which led thousands of workers down Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon, protesting against the changes proposed by the Government of Luís Montenegro.
On Thursday, the UGT unanimously approved the decision to proceed in convergence with the CGTP, including the favorable vote from the Social-Democratic Workers (TSD).
This will be the first strike to unite the two union confederations since June 2013, a time when Portugal was under the ‘troika’ intervention.
