“On crucial issues for the trade unions, which include deregulation of working hours, fixed-term contract precariousness, individual time banks, dismissals, and collective bargaining—essential aspects of labor law—the Government’s position is one of extreme intransigence,” criticized BE’s sole deputy.
The parliamentarian spoke to journalists at the Assembly of the Republic after meeting with the trade unions CGTP-IN and UGT, which have called for a general strike on December 11th in protest against the Government’s draft proposal for labor law revision.
In the deputy’s view, the Government is “counting on support from Chega and the Liberal Initiative to push forward the most ideological and radical labor reform in recent years, which will bring years of setback to labor protection in Portugal.”
According to Mariana Mortágua, the two trade unions conveyed to the deputy that “there is an unprecedented unavailability and comfort from the Government towards the proposal it presented.”
For the BE coordinator, this “unavailability” is due to the Government relying on approval from Chega and IL for the labor package.
“It’s an ideologically profound reform we haven’t seen in a long time, aiming to radically transform labor laws in Portugal and the way we view work, taking us back 100 years,” she lamented.
When questioned about the searches conducted by the Judicial Police today related to the 2015 TAP privatization, Mariana Mortágua emphasized that it was a PSD Government that privatized the company at the time and now wishes to partly re-privatize it.
“It’s ironic, if not tragic, that the same Government responsible for the privatization process currently under scrutiny at TAP is the Government preparing to privatize TAP again,” she criticized.
In Mariana Mortágua’s view, this scenario offers “no guarantees about the future” and reinforces that the airline “should be public” as it “is profitable” and “there is no reason to privatize it, except for this Government’s ideological obsession.”
