Manuel de Almeida / LUSA
In the center, the secretary general of UGT, Mário Mourão
The UGT advises the Government to reflect on the proposed labor changes, otherwise the unions will go on “two days of strike”.
In an interview with Antena 1 and , Mário Mourão explained that the UGT went ahead with the strike on December 11th because it had been pushed to the wall by the Government – to whom it advised to “stop, listen and reflect”, withdrawing that a proposed labor change could lead to the withdrawal of the general strike scheduled for December 11.
On the contrary, the general secretary of the trade union central stated that if the executive presents “a sheet” like the one recently delivered, there will be no other alternative: “Maybe what we We have to think about scheduling two days of strike, instead of just one“.
“We, in five months, were unable to produce a document that covered the various proposals. Do you think that in a month, less than a month, we will achieve this? I have many doubts”, the unionist asked and gave the answer.
Mário Mourão said that, at the previous Social Concertation meeting, he realized that the Government was preparing to take the proposal, as it was, to the Assembly of the Republic, unless the UGT committed to making an agreement.
“The Government pushed UGT against the wall”considered the general secretary of the trade union central, who, when faced with this perspective, decided that it was time to take to the streets, hoping for a large turnout for the strike.
According to Mourão, the Government’s stance is creating blockages in negotiation of collective bargaining, giving as an example EDP which, when denouncing an agreement, in a negotiation meeting, already invoked the Government’s draft bill as a basis, as if it were something already assumed as a law.
The union leader regretted that, contrary to what the Government said when they started negotiating, it had defined red linesand considered that, if negotiations had been carried out directly between employers and unions, bilateral agreements would probably have been reached.
“The Government must be an arbiter here at Concertação [Social]as it is in the ILO [Organização Internacional do Trabalho]”, he advocated, admitting, however, that it was not possible for this to happen, as the executive assumes himself as “a partner and therefore has its interests” in this proposal.
For Mário Mourão, the Government’s attitude will create divisions in the Social Concertation that will leave marks for the future, ensuring that the UGT, which has always shown itself available for dialogue, will proceed differently.
The union leader described the proposal presented at Tuesday’s meeting by the Government as “innocuous” and said that some, such as those referring to ‘outsourcing’, are even worse than those that were in the initial document.
First general strike since the troika
The general strike of December 11th was announced on the 8th by the general secretary of the CGTP, Tiago Oliveiraat the end of the national march against the labor package, which led thousands of workers to descend Avenida da Liberdade, in Lisbon, in protest against the changes proposed by the Government of Luís Montenegro.
On Thursday, the UGT unanimously approved the decision to move forward in convergence with the CGTP, thus including the favorable vote of the Social Democratic Workers (TSD).
This will be the first strike to bring together the two unions, since June 2013, when Portugal was under intervention by the troika.
