“We [PS] have already stated that the labor legislation proposal presented by the Government severely offends the rights of younger workers, women workers, families, and the most vulnerable,” criticized the socialist leader.
Speaking to journalists in Alcácer do Sal, in the district of Setúbal, at a meeting with the local farmers’ association, José Luís Carneiro reminded that he was “the first party leader to address these issues” concerning the new labor package on August 13.
He continued, “at the right time, [PS made] an appeal to the Government to reconsider what it was doing.”
For the socialist leader, “the first question the prime minister must ask himself and his Government is why, after so long, both trade union centers decided to strike together?”
“And maybe within that questioning lies the answer to the question that many are asking today: what is so grave about that draft law to unite the two trade centers in a general strike?” he added.
The UGT today approved, in convergence with the CGTP, a decision to move forward with a general strike on December 11 against the Government’s draft labor reform, an announcement made after the Council of Ministers’ press conference.
The decision was unanimously and enthusiastically approved by the General Council of the General Union of Workers (UGT), as proposed by the national secretariat.
This will be the first strike uniting the two trade union centers since June 2013, when Portugal was under the troika’s intervention.
UGT’s Secretary-General, Mário Mourão, stated today that, following the general strike announcement, the Government presented “a new proposal” on the labor reform, but warned that it is “too little” to call off the strike.
The Government also noted today that it remains “open to dialogue” to prevent the strike, arguing that the planned stoppage “does not serve the interests of the Portuguese,” while not yet addressing the potential for minimum services.
“The Portuguese want dialogue to advance; they do not want the country to stop,” said Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, during the press conference following the weekly Council of Ministers meeting, asserting that the government has made “effective approaches” towards the positions of the union centers.
The minister claimed that “the legislative process is still at an early stage,” using a phrase already employed by the President of the Republic, and when asked if the Government considers decreeing minimum services during the general strike scheduled for December 11, he declined to address this topic.
Leitão Amaro reiterated some arguments already used by the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, arguing that a general strike “is incomprehensible” when there are increases in minimum and average wages, a reduction of taxes, and a “history of agreements” reached during the year and a half governance of PSD/CDS-PP.
