“This is unacceptable, it is a significant historical setback, and it is perfectly justified that workers oppose it. This proposal is explicitly rejected by the workers, as demonstrated in a grand demonstration held last Saturday in Lisbon,” said António Filipe during a visit to the Senior University of Setúbal.
“This issue was not part of the electoral program with which the AD parties presented themselves in the last elections. What the Government should do is simply withdraw this proposal,” added the presidential candidate, confident that there is a “widespread repudiation” of the Government’s proposal by workers and unions.
António Filipe further reminded that “labor law was created to defend workers, to correct the economic inequality that exists between employers and workers,” and accused the Government of wanting to put labor rights at the service of employers to “eliminate any workers’ rights.”
“As a candidate for President of the Republic, I am firmly against this proposal, and I hope that before the presidential elections, which are only on January 18, it will be defeated,” he emphasized.
Confronted with the position of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, who declared on Sunday during the 4th EU-CELAC Summit in Santa Marta, Colombia, that the general strike called by CGTP and UGT against the revision of labor laws is “incomprehensible” and only serves to “cater to the interests” of the PCP and PS, António Filipe said those statements are “regrettable,” because the “right to strike is a fundamental right of workers, which must be respected.”
“And workers do not strike because they feel like it. Having to strike is punitive for the worker, as it means a salary they no longer receive, and because striking is a decision that, in many companies, may even put the job itself at risk,” he said.
“What the government is proposing is a change in the labor situation that is profoundly unfavorable to workers because it practically liberalizes dismissals, as the fundamental right of a wrongfully dismissed worker to be reinstated is undermined. The worker will never be reinstated even if the court declares their dismissal illegal,” said António Filipe.
The proposed changes, termed “Work XXI,” which the Government presented on July 24 as a “profound” revision of labor legislation, encompass areas ranging from parenthood (with changes in parental leave, breastfeeding, and gestational mourning) to flexible work, company training, or trial periods of employment contracts, and foresee an expansion of the sectors required to ensure minimum services in the event of a strike.
