Rodrigo Antunes / LUSA
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro
Statements by Luís Montenegro, one day before a rare strike in the country. Massive adherence, describes CGTP.
A general strike is on the march. This Thursday, December 11th, is the first strike to bring together the two unions, CGTP and UGT, since June 2013, when Portugal was under intervention by the ‘troika’.
The protest is conditioning or even closing services in several essential sectors: health, education, transport, finance or even the media.
It is a national demonstration against the Government’s reform of labor legislation, which targets several areas, such as parenting, dismissals, extension of contract terms and sectors that are now covered by minimum services in the event of a strike.
Luís Montenegro still doesn’t understand this general strike. Especially because the Government is not being intransigent, he assures.
“It is a lie that the Government is intransigent in whatever it is. The Government is not at all intransigent. The Government respects the right to strike. The Government governs and, therefore, has its options and has the right to defend and execute them. And he coordinates them with the social partners, with the political parties in the Assembly of the Republic and, above all, he coordinates them with the Portuguese people”, said the Prime Minister in conversation with journalists.
“The Government has been a government of dialogue, a government of consultation. But it is a government that has a reformist and transformative spirit and will not give up on being reformist and transformative”, he insisted.
Montenegro said, on the eve of the strike, that the country “works as normally as possible” today, Thursday.
And, on the eve of the general strike, the Prime Minister stated: “Portugal is a country where there is political stability, economic and financial stability. Portugal is at the top of Europe and the world”.
“Portugal is a country where incomes are growing, where young people have more opportunities today than they did a few years ago, where investment prospects are high, where credibility and reputation are high”, explained Luís Montenegro.
These statements are a sign that it could be dangerous. It’s a “overconfidence” on the part of the Governmentespecially in this context, the day before a rare general strike in a democracy.
Miguel Santos Carrapatoso added on the radio. that these signs are ambiguous: “On the one hand, the prime minister openly criticizes the UGT, then calls for negotiation and welcomes the union and then, on the eve of the general strike, says that Portugal is at the top of Europe and the world. It seems to me that there is an excess of confidence that can bring bad results to the Government. It was important that there was at least one come down to reality and realize that decisions have costs“.
Early in the morning, CGTP described a “massive membership” to the general strike.
