In October 2002, Portuguese civil servants took strike action in opposition to the government's highly restrictive state budget for 2003, which includes strict limits on civil service pay. Civil servants also played an active part in a wider day of action called in protest at the government's so-called 'labour package' of labour law and social security reform. Further civil service strikes are planned.
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In October 2002, Portuguese civil servants took strike action in opposition to the government's highly restrictive state budget for 2003, which includes strict limits on civil service pay. Civil servants also played an active part in a wider day of action called in protest at the government's so-called 'labour package' of labour law and social security reform. Further civil service strikes are planned.
The state budget for 2003 drawn up by the coalition government of the centre-right Social Democrat Party (Partido Social Democrata PPD/PSD) and the right-wing People's Party (Partido Popular, CDS/PP) was debated in October 2002. One of its basic objectives is to control the mounting public deficit (PT0206101N) in order to meet the demands of the EU Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) Stability Pact. The trade unions consider that the part of the budget dealing with the salaries of civil servants is very restrictive, and they have organised a major mobilisation against it.
Civil servants held strikes and demonstrations on 16 October. The main demands concerned:
real pay. In line with a proposal made by the Bank of Portugal (PT0209104F), the budget provides for pay increases for civil servants which are based on the average inflation in the EU. However, inflation in Portugal is above this average and is expected to remain so for the next year. The unions say that this situation hinders negotiations on their demands and will compromise economic and social development;
job stability. The unions are opposed to a so-called 'law on supernumeraries' (lei dos supranumerários), published on 25 September 2002 (Decree-Law no. 193/2002), which provides for geographical and job mobility for civil servants. If they refuse to accept transfers, the employees concerned will be deemed surplus or supernumerary; and
pensions. The unions do not want a draft retirement scheme for public servants to be implemented. This new scheme will impose a minimum age of 60 and a requirement of 36 years’ employment for a civil servants to receive a full pension, whereas, at present, all that is required is 36 years’ employment and a minimum age of 55. There are also some occupations, such as teachers, for whom the minimum full pension age is currently 52. Under the new scheme, for every year under the age of 60 that a civil servant retires, there will be a 4.5% reduction is their retirement pension. Furthermore, the amount of a civil servant's pension will be based on their net salary, which will result in a reduction of 11%. This measure will bring the public sector pension scheme more into line with that of the private sector, which is less advantageous for employees.
The strike was called by the Common Front of Civil Service Trade Unions (Frente Comum dos Sindicatos da Função Pública) affiliated to the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral de Trabalhadores Portugueses, CGTP) and, although exact participation figures are not available, its impact was greatest in the health service.
On 30 October, a large number of unions organised a 24-hour strike, to enable employees in both the public and private sectors to hold street demonstrations as part of a day of action against the government's so-called 'labour package' (pacote laboral) of proposed reforms of labour law (PT0210102F) and the social security system (PT0207103N). There were demonstrations in various regions of the country and in Lisbon and Oporto, and participation in the action day was especially strong in the civil service, including teachers from pre-primary and primary education up to university lecturers. This was the first strike by university lecturers since 1992 and they were protesting against the tight budgetary restrictions affecting higher and further education. Large numbers of tax office employees and customs and immigration officers also joined the strike.
A joint strike bringing together the civil service unions affiliated to both the General Workers' Union (União Geral de Trabalhadores, UGT) and CGTP for the first time in 10 years was set for 14 November.
Although the government regards the right to strike as a legitimate one, it points out that negotiations at the Standing Committee for Social Concertation (Comissão Permanente de Concertação Social, CPCS) of the Economic and Social Council (Concelho Economico e Social, CES) are still underway.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2002), Civil servants take strike action, article.
