For decades, unions in Portugal were one of the pillars of social democracy.
CGTP and UGT represented generations of workers in a country that emerged late from poverty, repression and economic backwardness.
In the years after the Carnation Revolution, it was natural that the priority was to recover basic rights: decent wages, vacations, job security, collective bargaining, social protection.
But Portugal has changed. And the unions, in many ways, have stood still.
From delay to modernization
In the 1980s, with Portugal’s entry into the European Economic Community, the country opened up to the world.
A new middle class, new companies, new sectors, new ambitions emerged.
Under Aníbal Cavaco Silva, a vision of economic modernization was consolidated.
In the 1990s, this economic transformation also required social progress.
It was the time when, with Guterres and the PS, issues such as gender equality, civil rights, decriminalization, combating old conservatisms and cultural modernization gained political space. The left had merit in several of these battles.
But by winning the cultural wars, they forgot about losing the labor war.
The abandonment of the common worker
Between the 2000s, 2010s and well into the 2020s, many workers began to feel that no one truly spoke for them anymore.
– Low wages
– Unaffordable houses
– Qualified young emigrants
– Precarious contracts
– Rising cost of living
– Small middle class crushed
– Independent workers without protection
– Gig economy without representation
Meanwhile, part of the institutional left focused on identity or symbolic debates that, although legitimate, do not resolve the main drama of those who work and are unable to live with dignity.
When citizens feel that no one is defending them, they look for someone who can shout the loudest.
The risk: unions captured by populism.
This is where the danger arises.
If CGTP and UGT remain disconnected from the new work reality, they open space for populist forces like Chega to try to fill this void.
It happened in France and the follow-up was the same. The far right started with those who worked at night with the feeling that crime only came from emigrants. Taxi drivers, hotels, restaurants, etc. It then spread to areas such as Marseille or Calais. Nothing but a dump of illegal immigrants waiting to go to the UK.
And it expanded in conservative niches. Farmers, industrialists and others began to see the cries of the far right as a single refuge for power and voice. But it didn’t exceed 20%. For the President, Le Pen needed to solidify the middle class employed in the public and private sectors. There would be no other hypothesis.
And that’s where he focused.
Today Chega ends up being a temptation similar to the middle class.
Not because they have a union tradition. Not because they have better economic solutions.
But because they understand something simple:
Where there is abandonment, revolt grows.
Where there is revolt, those who know how to exploit it grow.
Today it may seem unlikely.
Tomorrow it may no longer be.
19th century trade unionism in the 21st century does not work!
Many unions remain stuck with old tools:
– predictable strikes
– bureaucratic language
– closed devices
– little generational renewal
– poor communication
– almost no digital existence
A real shame.
It looks like a bunch of communists and Trotskys who took a time machine.
In the 19th century, the fight took place at the factory door. Today it is done in one day during the beach weekend.
In the 21st century, fighting must also be done on cell phones
A company that underpays, exploits or humiliates workers should face immediate public scrutiny.
Directly on social media. With complete transparency.
Salary transparency, labor rankings, digital mobilization, organized boycotts, intelligent campaigns, this is also modern union action.
And now that’s also the market working. If we knew the chain of supermarkets and hypermarkets that recruit more people in terms of turnover and with better salaries, I have no doubt that the competition would be boycotted.
Market? We forgot that.
Unions will either be in the hands of communists, Trotskys or Salazarists.
Portuguese unions, in general, have not yet realized the power of social networks.
Better. They noticed it but they don’t want to explore it. Why? Because they would lose power.
What power? None.
The central economic problem: lack of liquidity
Portugal is experiencing a simple blockade: people earn little and consume little.
If workers have no income:
buy less
If they buy less, B2C companies (that sell to individual customers and not companies) earn less.
If they earn less, the investment stops.
The State collects less, the economy stagnates, etc.
There is no sustainable prosperity with structurally low wages.
Portugal needs two things at the same time:
– Workers earning more > Purchasing Power.
– Companies selling more and producing better > Economic growth and productivity.
It is not a choice between boss and worker. It’s a national equation.
What to do?
The new Portuguese trade unionism should defend:
1. Living wages linked to productivity.
2. Affordable housing.
3. Combat real precariousness.
4. Protection of freelancers and digital platforms.
5. Salary transparency.
6. Continuous training.
7. Smart public pressure on bad employers.
8. Modern, non-folk trading
Conclusion:
If the left continues to speak to niches and not to those who wake up at 6 am to work, they will lose the unions.
And when you lose your unions, you will lose one of your last connections to the real country.
The danger is growing in factories, warehouses, call centers, hospitals, drivers, precarious young people and workers tired of waiting.
Because when representatives disappear, undesirable fascist replacements appear. Thirsty for power, talking the biggest nonsense ever.
Today in France.
Tomorrow in Portugal.
Then don’t say I didn’t warn you.
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