“I want to speak to those who work. Workers are the majority of the country. Strangely, politics is done for a minority. We want to end that. We want politics to be for the majority,” declared Mariana Mortágua during a press statement in Almeirim, Santarém district.
On the fourth day of the electoral campaign for the anticipated legislative elections on May 18, the Left Bloc caravan visited Almeirim to show solidarity with a gathering of dozens of Sumol/Compal workers who were on strike.
The demonstration took place notably near a Socialist Party poster featuring a photo of the socialist secretary-general, Pedro Nuno Santos, who just the previous night at a rally in the same district also rejected a government meant for “a minority.”
Mortágua pointed out that “the family that owns” the company controlling Sumol and Compal is among “the 50 richest in the country,” contrasting with these workers who “represent the majority of the country’s people.”
“They work hard, wake up early, go to bed late, work in shifts, work at night, and after so much effort, they take home a thousand euros. Because salaries haven’t increased over time, meal allowances haven’t kept pace with the rising cost of food, and they can’t get rewarded for the shift work they do, feeling that their labor yields ever decreasing pay,” she criticized.
The deputy and economist argued that “all parties” discuss the widening gap between the national minimum wage and the average salary, “but no one knows how the average salary can be increased,” leaving only “the wish in the air.”
Mortágua advocated that average salaries could be increased through tools like collective bargaining, which strengthens workers’ claims, insisting on a proposal the Left Bloc is presenting in these elections.
“We believe the meal subsidy should be mandatory in the private sector. Sometimes we take it for granted; it is not. Many workers in the private sector do not receive a meal subsidy. It should be mandatory in private, as it is in public, and have a minimum value of 10 euros,” she stated.
The leader of the Left Bloc emphasized that there are “various ways” to increase wages, but only one certainty: “they absolutely must be raised.” Otherwise, the far-right may capitalize on workers’ frustration, she warned.
Speaking to the strikers, Mortágua reminded them that the Left Bloc has been proposing the expansion of rights for shift workers.
However, she cautioned, when the proposals reach the Assembly of the Republic, it is necessary to have Left Bloc deputies to approve them.
“The stronger your fight, the stronger that proposal is in parliament. Parliament does not exist outside the life of companies and people. (…) Your strength, I’m absolutely sure, is also our strength,” she concluded.
Also participating in this action was the head of the Left Bloc’s list for the Santarém district, Bruno Góis, in which the party aims to reclaim the parliamentary representation lost in 2022.
