PM convinced ‘overwhelming majority of Portuguese’ will not strike tomorrow – Portugal Resident

Portugal’s prime minister, Luís Montenegro, expressed his conviction today that the “overwhelming majority of working Portuguese people” will go to work tomorrow – the day of the general strike.

Upon entering the conference “50 Years of Local Power – Democracy, Development and Future”, an initiative organised by Jornal de Notícias, in Porto, and questioned about the general strike on Wednesday, Luís Montenegro said he had “no idea” what the participation rate would be.

“We’ll see soon enough, and what I hope for, as I am convinced, is that the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of working Portuguese people, will go to work tomorrow,” he said.

Often, he added, what happens is that a minority manages to influence the work of others.

“I hope that doesn’t happen, I hope that the two things are reconciled, which is, some have the right to exercise the right to strike and do so, others have the right to work and can also do so,” he stressed.

Upon arrival, and as has been the norm in the places he has visited, Montenegro was met by about 20 protesters demonstrating against the government package for labour reform

The Prime Minister used the opportunity to say protesters are “always the same people (…) staunch members of the CGTP” – which has called tomorrow’s general strike.

“What I can say is that I enjoy seeing them almost every day, that they are now part of my daily life, but above all, I want to say that we have great respect for the Portuguese people who want to express their disagreement on certain issues and who want to go on strike,” he added.

The Social Democrat – who was re-elected from a field without contenders as president of the PSD at the weekend – stressed that, despite having great respect for the Portuguese who want to go on strike, he also has great respect for the Portuguese who want to go to work.

“What I hope is that they let the Portuguese people work, that is, let the Portuguese people who want to exercise a right to be able to exercise it, the right to strike, but also let those who do not want to exercise that right, who want to work, who want to go to school, who want to go to medical appointments, who want to do their daily tasks, be able to do so as well.” 

The CGTP trade union confederation issued a pre-strike notice for June 3 in protest against proposed changes to the labour law, after protracted negotiations with the government ended without an agreement.

The government has approved its proposed law in the Council of Ministers, which will be discussed in parliament.

In the meantime, a number of unions have suggested they will be supporting tomorrow’s general strike. It is simply a question of waiting to see.  Source: LUSA