“The right to strike is constitutionally enshrined, but it must be exercised with responsibility and proportionality, and only after all dialogue channels are exhausted. At this point, negotiations are ongoing, and it is unreasonable to paralyze the country without even knowing the outcome of the talks,” stated Francisco Calheiros, president of the CTP, in a communicated statement.
In the document, the CTP considered the call for the strike to be “untimely and disproportionate” when the Trabalho XXI draft project is “still in the preliminary phase of discussion within the scope of social dialogue”.
The confederation emphasized that the government’s final proposals or the outcome of dialogue with social partners are not yet known.
According to the association, a general strike during what they consider a phase of economic recovery and job consolidation would send “a message of instability and harm the confidence of workers and international visitors”.
“The CTP believes that calling a general strike before the negotiations are concluded is a negative and premature signal that does not contribute to an environment of trust and dialogue that the country needs to maintain,” highlighted the confederation.
Francisco Calheiros added that it is “inevitable and desirable that the Trabalho XXI draft corrects some of the less balanced measures of the Decent Work Agenda,” but this debate “should take place in the proper space — social dialogue — and not in the streets”.
The general strike was announced on Saturday by CGTP’s general secretary, Tiago Oliveira, at the conclusion of the national march against the labor package in Lisbon.
The last time both trade union centers called for a joint general strike was over a decade ago, during the ‘troika’ period.
This general strike was called in protest against the government’s draft project for revising labor legislation, which is being debated with social partners and foresees the revision of “more than a hundred” articles of the Labor Code.
The proposed changes, referred to as “Trabalho XXI,” which the government introduced on July 24 as a “profound” review of labor legislation, cover areas from parenthood (with changes in parental leave, breastfeeding, and gestational bereavement) to flexible work, training within companies, or trial periods of work contracts, also envisaging an expansion of the sectors subject to minimum service requirements in case of a strike.
