“The government is making an unacceptable proposal to Portuguese workers: sit at the table to negotiate how they will have less salary, how they will have fewer rights. And it is normal that workers do not want to negotiate on this basis,” said Catarina Martins to Lusa on the sidelines of the UN climate conference (COP30), ongoing until Friday in Belém, Brazil.
Considering that in Portugal “the salary is too low and the cost of living is very high,” the candidate, attending COP30 as an MEP and representative of the European Left in the European Parliament, criticized two specific measures from the executive’s proposal.
The first is that overtime hours will no longer be paid, even for those working 50 hours per week, with the individual hours bank.
“How many people in Portugal rely on those overtime hours to pay the bills at the end of the month?” she questioned.
The second is that a company can dismiss without just cause and does not have to reintegrate the worker, even if the court deems the dismissal illegal.
“It means that it might be worthwhile for a company to fire someone because they provoke it” or dismiss a woman for asserting her rights to accompany her children.
Catarina Martins argued that “the problem is not with the unions that are fighting, the problem is with the Government making an unacceptable proposal for the country.”
“An economy is better the better the jobs it creates and the better the wages it pays. And that is why we must fight,” she added.
The presidential elections are scheduled for January 18, 2026.
This marks the 12th time (including the two rounds of the 1986 elections) that Portuguese citizens have been called upon since 1976 to choose the President of the Republic in a democracy.
In addition to Catarina Martins, Luís Marques Mendes (supported by PSD and now also CDS-PP), António Filipe (supported by PCP), António José Seguro (supported by PS), André Ventura (supported by Chega), Henrique Gouveia e Melo, João Cotrim Figueiredo (supported by Iniciativa Liberal), and Jorge Pinto (supported by Livre), among others, have announced their candidacies.
According to the candidacy portal of the Ministry of Internal Administration, there are 31 more citizens collecting signatures for a presidential candidacy.
COP30 is being held in the city of Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon, and is expected to conclude on Friday.
