Luís Forra / LUSA
Schools will close, health and justice services will be affected, Boards and Chambers will also be affected, in addition to cultural spaces, believes the Common Front.
Today, the Common Front envisaged a “big strike” and public administration already Friday against the Government, which it accuses of degrading work and public services and wanting to imply that there are “more safety problems than health problems”.
“It will be a big strike and it will force the Government, if you have common sense, to realize that is buying social conflict and that it will not stop because workers demand different policies”, said the coordinator of the Common Front, Sebastião Santana, at a press conference in Lisbon.
The union leader predicted the closure of many schools, disruptions to services health and of justice, as well as strong adhesion of workers in local authorities, central services of public administration by culture e monuments.
Asked if he really believes that the executive will be able to reverse its policies, Santana stated that he does not expect “the Government to give in without a fight”, but that It was “always the workers’ struggle that overthrew governments and guaranteed the appreciation of work in other years”.
For the union leader, the workers cannot accept a State Budget degradation of working conditions and disinvestment in public services.
Sebastião Santana said that the increase in the budget for health in 2026 it will be even below inflation, in addition to the fact that, of the total of 17 billion euros, more than half is channeled privately (in examinations, surgeries, medicines, etc., financed by the State).
“There are 760 thousand people [que são] Public administration workers have a very large weight in Portuguese society. If the Government does not take this into account, it is very serious shortsightedness”, he said.
Asked whether there would be margin in the State Budget to accommodate the 15% salary increase demanded by the Common Front (at least 150 euros), taking into account the slight surplus of 0.1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) predicted for 2026, the union leader responded affirmatively as long as political priorities were changed.
“There is every margin. If the State Budget proposal does not have tax freebies of 1,700 million euros for companies, if there is no IRC break of 300 million euros (…). It is not a question of lack of money, it is a question of political choice”, he stated.
Sebastião Santana also mentioned that the budget proposal includes an increase in spending on defense by 14% and that the investment of 50 million euros was recently announced in the acquisition of North American weapons to be delivered to Ukraine.
“It makes us believe that today we are in Portugal with more security problems than health problems, which is not true”, he stressed.
Asked whether the strike could bring about any change in the approval of the budget in parliament when the PS already has a “demanding abstention”, Sebastião Santana said that the PS “still has time to change its opinion” and that the political process is not just about parliament and is conditioned by the social struggle.
As for the minimum services In this strike, the leaders of the Common Front explained that the strike notices defined, as usual, the minimum services and that in health, for example, they include emergencies, scheduled surgeries considered urgent, treatments such as fertilization, home hospitalization, etc.
So far, around 20 entities (mainly health) contested the minimum services defined, with the decision being made by the arbitration court.
“What is a pity is that essential social needs are not always considered by the Government, only on strike days”, stated Sebastião Santana, adding that it is common for minimum health services to involve more workers than on a normal working day.
Still at the press conference, the Common Front said it was “shameful” the package and that the State reform is an “earthwork of public services”, starting with the creation of the Agency for the Management of the Educational System, which considered that it will have a business logic and that it will be the first phase of the deconstruction of the public education system.
On October 9, the Government delivered the proposed State Budget for 2026 to the Assembly of the Republic, maintaining the initial proposal for salary increases for the public service provided for in the multi-year agreement signed in November 2024 with Fesap and the Frente Sindical.
For 2026, the expected increase is 56.58 euros or 2.15%, rising to 60.52 euros in 2027 and 2028, extending until 2029. The Public Administration remuneration base, currently 878.41 euros, will increase to 934.99 euros in 2026, including progressions, promotions and salary agreements, for an estimated total of 1,248 million euros in personnel expenses.
Maintaining the initial proposal led the Common Front to maintain the general civil service strike scheduled for October 24th as it considered that “it falls far short of what is the necessary response to the continued loss of workers’ purchasing power”.
The Common Front represents 29 unions from all sectors of public administration.
