Workers at mass rally demand change in government policies

In March 2007, approximately 120,000 people took part in a demonstration organised by the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers. It was hoped that this gathering would highlight the need for better working conditions and greater job security in the public sector. The main demands expressed relate to changes in the economic, budgetary and employment policies of the socialist government – a government that has been in power for two years now. The turnout for the demonstration was considered to be one of the highest in the last two decades.

On 2 March 2007, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses, CGTP) called a demonstration against the policies of the socialist government which has been in power for two years. The demonstration was considered one of the best attended of the last 20 years, with about 120,000 people demonstrating.

Call for policy changes

The main issues at stake concerned both workers in the public and private sectors. In the demonstration announcement, CGTP stated that ‘the progressive overthrow of labour and social rights, of jobs in public services, as well as the destruction of the manufacturing sector and the scandalous enrichment of economic and financial power-holders, without regard for solving the real problems of the country, is the main result of the policies adopted by the consecutive governments in the last years’. This downhill trend, according to CGTP’s announcement, ‘is being reinforced by the attempt to implement elements of EU Green Papers – elements such as: flexicurity, which promotes dismissals without just cause; more insecure labour relations; the reinforcement of the model of growth based on low wages and low skills; and the erosion of collective bargaining rights’. In this context, the demonstration was aptly called ‘United for the change of policies’.

In his speech, the Secretary General of CGTP, Manuel Carvalho da Silva, criticised the government over the following issues: the government’s ‘obsession’ with the budget deficit; the redefinition and limitation of core state functions (PT0702059I); the inclusion of a sustainability factor adjustment for the calculation of future pensions in 2008 (PT0701019I); the increasing presence of the private sector in healthcare; the absence of a strategic plan against illiteracy; the ‘attack’ on civil servants (PT0605019I, PT0607039I); flexicurity as a concept that threatens job security (PT0702039I); and the lack of coverage of collective bargaining (PT0604019I).

Trade union demands

At the demonstration, the confederation approved a resolution which outlined the following demands:

• a new economic policy in order to promote economic growth and to increase production in the manufacturing sector as well as to improve employment rights;

• a new budgetary policy in order to promote better structural conditions and to guarantee high quality public services;

• employment policies promoting job creation and improving labour rights in an effort to reduce the levels of unemployment and job insecurity, and to promote the quality of employment and the right to vocational training;

• a better income redistribution between labour and capital, as well as an effective increase in wages and pensions;

• the right to collective bargaining, particularly through the revocation of the 2003 Labour Code standards which undermine that right, as well as through the government’s observance of the legislation on collective bargaining in the public sector;

• a more efficient public sector which encourages employment, respects workers’ rights and secures social rights through the improvement of the quality of public services;

• the implementation of social policies aimed at reducing social inequalities and preventing social exclusion;

• the renewal of the national health service as a central pillar of the health system;

• the protection of public social security as a universal and solidarity system, putting an end to the political measures that have been launched which jeopardise these public systems;

• the improvement of the education system, with measures aimed at the further democratisation of the system, and more and better public schools;

• the observance and respect of workers’ rights through the strengthening of the intervention and coordinated action of labour inspection services.

Plans for protest action

At the demonstration, CGTP announced the actions that it was going to take at national level in the coming months. In addition to the traditional action days, on 8 March and 1 May, CGTP has organised a national action day for 28 March to highlight the issue of young workers’ rights to job security. It also plans to launch two further national protests during Portugal’s EU Presidency in the second half of 2007. The first action is to take place when the European ministers of social affairs meet in July 2007 in Guimarães in northwestern Portugal. The second, a national demonstration, is set to take place during the European Summit in Lisbon in October 2007.

Maria da Paz Campos Lima and Raquel Rego, Dinâmia