Government of Montenegro is the target of more strikes than Passos Coelho during the troika

The annual average of strike notices during Montenegro’s two years at the head of the government beats the averages of António Costa and Passos Coelho.

According to , the number of strike notices in Portugal has been increasing consistently since 2011, reaching particularly high values ​​during the terms of the current prime minister.

According to data from the General Directorate of Administration and Public Employment (DGAEP), the current Government already has a annual average of around 392.5 advance notices in the public sector, surpassing the records of executives led by António Costa and Pedro Passos Coelho.

During Passos Coelho’s two mandates, between 2011 and 2015, there were 401 strike noticeswhich corresponds to a average of around 80 per year. During the António Costa governments, between November 2015 and April 2024, 2796 advance notices were recorded, resulting in a annual average of 338.9.

In Montenegro’s mandates, which began in April 2024, DGAEP registered until February this year a total of 785 pre-noticespointing to the highest annual average in recent decades.

The strike mobilization in Portugal has recorded peaks in moments of greater social tension. One of the most striking occurred in 2012, when 127 strikes took place, including two general strikes, in a context of strong opposition to austerity policies. Later, in 2019, there was a new maximum with 147 strikes. The only significant drop occurred in 2020, during the pandemic, when 103 strikes were recorded.

More recently, the contestation gained new momentum with the December 11th general strike 2025, the first in more than a decade, after the one held in June 2013, also in a context of austerity.

For labor sociologist Dora Fonseca, the increase in strikes is linked to the economic difficulties faced by many workers, such as low wages, precariousness and greater labor pressure. “The perception of injustice has a strong mobilizing power”, he highlights, adding that several labor reform proposals could change the balance of forces between employers and workers.

However, when the public and private sectors are analyzed together, data from the Directorate-General for Employment and Labor Relations (DGERT) show a slight reduction in 2025. That year, 839 strike notices were registered, below the 1099 recorded in 2024.