Workers from the north to the south of the country will demonstrate this Saturday, November 8th, in Lisbon, in an action called by the CGTP, to “give a signal to the Government” to back down and remove the draft labor review from discussion.
Under the motto “All to Lisbon”, the demonstration called by the trade union central led by Tiago Oliveira, scheduled to start at 2:30 pm on Saturdayforesees two pre-concentrations in the capital: public sector workers will come together in Amoreiras and private sector workers in Saldanha, both of which will “flow” into Marquês de Pombal, ending up in Restauradores.
Speaking to Lusa, the CGTP secretary general said he hoped the demonstration would be “a great moment of denunciation” and “affirmation” of the workers’ struggle against the Government’s draft labor review, which is being discussed in the Social Concertation.
“It is necessary at this point to give a signal to the Government that it has to back down in the construction of the labor package”, stated Tiago Oliveira, considering that the draft “is profoundly negative for the world of work”.
Also remembering the demonstrations in Lisbon and Porto on September 21st and the Public Administration strike on October 24th, the CGTP general secretary reiterated that the The objective is to “bring the workers to Lisbon” so that the “Government can look at what is the true extent of the indignation of the majority of Portuguese people” and remove the package from the discussion.
To ensure the participation of workers who work on weekends, several strike notices were issued, namely in the “commerce, service sector, restaurants, hotels” and “some industries” sectors, Tiago Oliveira added.
CGTP has been insisting that the Government’s draft represents “a real setback” in workers’ rights and points out that there are unconstitutional amendment proposals.
The Government’s draft revision of labor legislation, which is being debated with social partners, provides for the revision of “more than a hundred” articles of the Labor Code.
The changes foreseen in the proposal – called “Work XXI” and which the Government presented on July 24th as a “deep” review of labor legislation – aim from the area of parenthood (with changes to parental leave, breastfeeding and gestational bereavement) to flexible working, training in companies or trial periods of employment contractsalso providing for an expansion of the sectors that will be covered by minimum services in the event of a strike.