CGTP to take strike action in protest at government policies

In early April 2007, the National Council of the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP) announced a ‘generalised’ strike on 30 May. The last general strike held by CGTP took place in 2002, in protest against the Labour Code launched by the centre-right government. This time, the main reasons for the industrial action concern the general policies of the socialist government and the fight against ‘flexicurity’.

On 2 April 2007, the National Council of the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses, CGTP) announced their intention to hold a ‘national day of general strike action (…) with the participation of all the sectors and regions of the country’. According to the announcement, ‘all sectors must assume beforehand the obligatory commitment to strike’ in order to participate in the industrial action on 30 May 2007. At the press conference, the Secretary General of CGTP, Manuel Carvalho da Silva, used the term ‘generalised’ strike to describe the planned action.

The decision to take industrial action was the outcome of a long discussion that divided the trade union confederation internally. On 21 March 2007, the newspaper Jornal de Noticias reported that the possibility of a general strike was considered at the meeting of the Executive Commission of CGTP, held on 11–12 March. According to this source, the more orthodox communist sector of the union proposed strike action at the meeting, arguing that the confederation should capitalise on the success of the national demonstration held on 2 March 2007 (PT0703039I). At the same meeting, several members contended that the conditions for a general strike were not right. Mr Carvalho da Silva closed the meeting outlining the two positions and suggested that the possibilities for holding a general strike be explored further. For him, the call for a general strike should be preceded by a thorough explanation of the reasons behind it.

Reasons for strike action

The meeting held on 2 April put an end to the discussion within the confederation. A number of reasons were presented to support the call for a generalised strike, including the following:

• the increasing job insecurity combined with the deregulation of labour in the public and private sectors, rising unemployment rate, decreasing wages, and the loss of individual and collective rights, all of which demand strong protest in order to change government policies;

• the possible outcomes of the discussion on flexicurity (PT0702039I), taking into consideration the EU Green Paper on modernising labour law and the forthcoming Portuguese White Paper on the revision of the Labour Code, should be clearly defined for the government and employers so that the right to work and to decent work will not be undermined;

• the unfair distribution of wealth, the attack on social policies – namely health, education and social security – and the breakdown of public services, which are areas in need of policy changes.

Meanwhile, on 18 April, the General Secretary of the General Workers’ Union (União Geral de Trabalhadores, UGT), Joã o Proenç a, said in a press statement that the conditions were not valid for a general strike. According to Mr Proenç a, ‘there are no concrete reasons for a general strike besides the dependency of fights between parties.’ Furthermore, Mr Proenç a added that discontentment at sectoral level does not justify a general strike, claiming that ‘no concrete goal has been announced for the realisation of the strike’.

Commentary

The expression ‘generalised’ strike is, from now on, part of the vocabulary of CGTP. By using this term, CGTP paves the way for a general strike, preventing at the same time a possible failure in certain regions or sectors. It is the first time that a general strike has been called on the grounds of such broad and encompassing issues. Looking at these two factors, it seems that a relatively unstable compromise has been reached at the highest level of CGTP. In fact, the cautious term ‘generalised’ strike (which probably hails from those who are unconvinced about a general strike) contrasts sharply with the expression ‘obligatory commitment’ to strike, which is very much in line with the language of the orthodox communist members of the confederation. Taking everything into consideration, Mr Carvalho da Silva of CGTP is surely facing one of the most problematic periods of his leadership. Against this background, the refusal of CGTP to sign the agreement on the reform of vocational training (PT0704029I) can be seen as a clear signal of the new balance of power Mr Carvalho da Silva has to contend with from now on.

Maria da Paz Campos Lima, Dinâmia