Presidential candidate António José Seguro appealed this Saturday, November 8th, to the Government to resume dialogue with the unions, to try to avoid the general strike announced for December 11th.
Speaking in Guimarães, on the sidelines of a conference on economics and housing, Seguro expressed himself “very concerned” about the prospect of the strike.
“The appeal that I make and address is to the Government, in order to take initiatives so that dialogue can resume, that the proposals that workers, through their representatives, have presented are taken into account and that this general strike is avoided, which will naturally have negative consequences for the country”, he said.
The general secretary of the CGTP announced this Saturday a general strike for December 11th, at the end of the national march against the labor package, in Lisbon.
“I am very worried because scheduling a general strike is a rare thing in our country, the last one was more than 10 years ago and this only happens when workers consider that there are no conditions to continue this dialogue”said António José Seguro.
He added that today he had the opportunity to speak on the phone with the UGT leader about the matter, but he declined to elaborate on the content of the conversation.
“At this moment, I appeal to the Government, because I consider that the Government has this responsibility, this duty and this obligation to avoid this general strike”, he reiterated.
The general secretary of CGTP said that “with a position already taken or in the final decision process by many union structures, it was possible to establish convergence for a general strike on December 11th”.
Despite not having mentioned other union structures, it was reported this Friday by Expresso that UGT would also join this general strike.
Among the changes contained in the Government’s draft revision of labor legislation are the extension of the duration of fixed-term contracts, the return of the individual time bank, the end of the brake on external hiring after layoffs, the review of parental leave and the reinforcement of mandatory minimum services in the event of a strike.