As he arrived for a meeting with the Commercial, Industrial and Services Association of Vila Nova De Gaia (ACIGAIA), Ventura stated that the new labor law “should have been negotiated point by point, step by step, since the beginning of summer” and that “if we are already reaching a strike, it is bad for the country.”
“We are somewhat playing catch-up. I honestly think that is negative. It is the Government’s fault, as well as a bit of these outdated unions, but this is the reality we have,” said André Ventura, emphasizing that the Montenegro executive should have negotiated with the labor sectors.
Blaming the Government, but also the “intransigence of unions, which often no longer represent anyone,” particularly “leaders who haven’t worked for 20 or 30 years and are playing the political game of the far left, which has been diminished in parliament,” Ventura asserted that “the country needs a new labor law with flexibility, adapted to the modern economy,” while stressing that “those who work also need to have their rights guaranteed.”
“I am referring to issues that are currently causing some unrest among labor sectors and which could have been negotiated (…). This was not done in time, and the Government has clumsily brought this forward now. We have been saying since July that dialogue was needed,” stated the candidate.
The Chega leader listed, among other issues, the working hours bank, telecommuting, the right to strike, and compensations arising from the right to strike, as well as those related to breastfeeding rights, to give examples of “poorly negotiated” aspects.
“The issue of breastfeeding and the right to breastfeeding, in a country with the known birthrate problems that we have, was a matter that could have been addressed. The Government chose not to do it, chose not to address it, chose to let the issue run its course. We can have flexibility, without giving the impression that the country is a place where one can be dismissed any way, at any time, and on a whim,” he noted.
According to Ventura, reaching a general strike in Portugal “is bad for the country, bad for businesses, and bad for workers.”
“It’s bad for everyone. The country stops, and that is a negative signal. We are comfortable because we have been on the side of common sense from the beginning. This is not a matter of right or left. Whether one likes it or not, a general strike is bad for the country, for the economy, for the country, and has a significant detrimental effect on our public finances. This should have been avoided before reaching this point,” he concluded.
The general strike was announced a week ago by CGTP’s secretary-general, Tiago Oliveira, at the end of the national march against the labor package, which led thousands of workers down Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon, protesting against the changes proposed by Luís Montenegro’s Government.
After the strike announcement, demonstrators showed support for the 24-hour stoppage by chanting “the attack is brutal, let’s go to the general strike.”
On Thursday, UGT unanimously approved the decision to proceed in convergence with the CGTP.
This will be the first strike uniting both union centers since June 2013, when Portugal was under the ‘troika’ intervention.
