Porto, Portugal – On Saturday, October 17, the rage of the people in the streets of Spain and France over the deteriorating quality of life for working-class and young people fully arrived in Portugal. Unions led massive marches around the country, and encampments led by young people demanding affordable housing were reestablished in Porto, after government repression earlier in the week. The protests spread to the capital of Lisbon and other cities.

Since October 10, young people in Porto, inspired by the hundreds of thousands of people in the streets of neighboring Spain have tried to maintain an encampment demanding an end to skyrocketing housing costs while wages stay flat. But the police responded to the protesters with brutality, injuring 37 people and callously dismissing them and their demands in a way that shook the conscience of the country.

In that context, Portugal’s largest and most militant union federation, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), led huge marches in Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra on Saturday, October 17. The marches brought thousands of working-class people into the streets in a similar trajectory as the young people who have been pressing the demand for affordable housing.

The CGTP put forward concrete demands that could address the deep capitalist crises that working people face in all aspects of life in Portugal – like a 15% increase of the minimum wage, increases in pensions and social security, strengthening the national health system (SNS), and increasing funding to education.

Portugal’s conservative government has been systematically chopping away at working people’s quality of life, defunding public systems then privatizing them for the profit of the rich and multinational corporations. They’ve allowed private equity firms and short-term rentals like AirBnB to gobble up real estate, driving housing prices through the roof, while passing a new law that weakens renters’ protections and makes evictions easier.

After the CGTP marches filled the streets on Saturday, thousands of people gathered that evening in assemblies and decided to reestablish a tent encampment in Porto’s Praça Dom João I and to establish a new encampment in Praça do Rossio in Portugal’s capitol, Lisbon.

After having said earlier in the week that he would draw a hard line and absolutely refuse to allow a tent encampment in Porto, and then sending in the police to injure protesters in their tents in middle of the night, Porto’s municipal leader Pedro Duarte was forced to backtrack and allow the encampment to be reestablished on Saturday night in the face of huge public sympathy for the protesters and widespread repudiation of his harsh treatment of peaceful protesters. Lisbon’s officials were also powerless to stop the establishment of a huge new encampment in the center of the city.

At the union march in Lisbon on Saturday, CGTP Secretary General Tiago Oliveira said, “Today, it is quite evident that we live in a state of permanent class conflict – a conflict that is intensifying and becoming increasingly clear to each and every one of us. Let us be aware of one thing: when we have a government that does not view the world through the eyes of those who work—those who live by their own labor, the youth, and the majority of the people—it is highly unlikely that we will see policies that address the interests of workers, retirees, young people, or that same majority. These are distinct and opposing interests—class interests—and big capital will never look toward the working population with the aim of improving their living conditions. Instead, it will always pursue policies that serve its own interests and the accumulation of wealth through exploitation.”

Oliveira then called on people “to make this coming November a month of action and struggle – and, among other initiatives, to commit here and now that on November 24, the day the final vote on the national budget is scheduled to take place, we will be there, out in the streets near the Assembly of the Republic, for yet another major day of struggle!”

#International #Portugal #Labor #CGTP

Porto, Portugal – Workers throughout the country set up picket lines and marched in the streets instead of going to work on June 3, bringing key sectors of the economy to a standstill. Public transit, education, health care and many sectors of production were impacted by a general strike.

The General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), a militant class-struggle union which is part of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), called Portugal’s second general strike in six months as they battle to defeat an anti-worker and anti-union “Labor Package” being pushed by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and the right-wing parties in the Assembly of the Republic.

After picketing at work sites around the Porto area, thousands of workers gathered at 3 p.m. at Praça da Batalha for a mass march to the center of Porto. This was one of around 30 such marches in cities throughout the country. Workers carried banners representing dozens of sectors and workplaces that were on strike and carried signs denouncing the labor package as representing the interests of bosses, not workers. The most popular chant was “O ataque é brutal — a greve é general” (in English: “the attack is brutal — the strike is general”), making clear that their response to this serious attack on workers’ rights is the whole working class uniting and taking action together.

Speakers from different unions announced what percentage of workers in their workplaces participated in the strike, providing actual numbers to counter Prime Minister Montenegro’s statement to the media that not many workers participated. Union leaders announced that in key sectors the numbers were between 75 and 100%. While public sector unions generally seemed to have higher participation, there were private sector companies that also had significant participation. For example, union members from the most prominent beer company in Portugal, Super Bock, announced that their production was entirely shut down for the day. CGTP posted pictures on social media throughout the day of picket lines at many companies and facilities around the country.

CGTP General Secretary Tiago Oliveira told SIC Noticias, “Workers today are deeply knowledgeable about the content of the labor package. What the CGTP seeks most at this moment is to give voice to the workers. It is with the strength of these people that we are absolutely certain that we will defeat this labor package.”

The CGTP announced they will continue to fight to not only stop this labor package, but to push forward their demands that correspond to the urgent needs of working families: increasing the minimum wage, workers’ rights, and public services.

#PortoPortugal #International #Portugal #Labor #Strike #CGTP

Lisbon, Portugal – Thousands of Portuguese workers marched July 7 to condemn inflation and stagnant wages.

People traveled from across the country to gather in Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal. Many traveled by train from Porto, the biggest city in the northern region of Portugal, where the train departed from Campanhã Train Station with around 800 protesters aboard.

The thousands converged on Marqués de Pombal Park in Lisbon then marched to the Portuguese parliament. They demanded a 35-hour work week without salary reduction, a minimum salary of €850 (around $865), an end to employment insecurity, and permanent work contracts to avoid financial instability. They also demanded pension adjustments to keep up with the rising cost of food and housing.

Many call center workers joined the protest to speak out against their job insecurity, inflation and stagnant wages.

The protesters chanted, “A luta continúa,” which in Portuguese means “The struggle continues!”

The Confederação Geral de Trabalhadores Portugueses (General Confederation of Portuguese Workers – CGTP) organized this demonstration to strengthen the fight of the Portuguese people against neoliberalism and to stand up for union rights, for better working conditions and for increased investment in public services and social functions of the state.

Jerónimo de Sousa, General Secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party joined the protesters to express solidarity and commitment to the struggles of Portuguese workers.

In spite of the hot weather during the march, the protesters succeeded in expressing their disagreement with the growth of social injustice and disparity in the context of the COVID pandemic.

#LisbonPortugal #Lisbon #Europe #PeoplesStruggles #Portugal #ConfederaçãoGeralDeTrabalhadoresPortugueses #CGTP #PortugueseCommunistParty