The general secretary of the PCP stated this Saturday, November 22, that the Government’s labor package constitutes a declaration of war on workers and warned that the formulation of the proposal for unfair dismissals only aims to try to circumvent the Constitution.
Paulo Raimundo took these positions at the end of a public session entitled “What women don’t need and only the fight can stop”, at the Vitória Work Center, in Lisbon.
Before an audience of mainly women, the communist leader classified the revision of labor laws proposed by the Government as a clear example of a “class option”, called for an “organized struggle” against “the offensive” of the PSD/CDS executive and highlighted the importance of the general strike already called for December 11th by the trade unions.
“In the coming days, we have very intense fights to fight, it will not be the fight of fights, much less the final fight. But the general strike on December 11th is the moment to demonstrate this organized strength of working women”he maintained.
In his speech, the secretary general of the PCP even highlighted the only acceptable result for the communists in relation to the draft revision of labor laws proposed by the Government: “The only remedy is to once and for all be removed from discussion”.
Contrary to the “liberal platitudes” about competitiveness, flexibility and resilience in the economy, Paulo Raimundo framed the Government’s draft project in “old and obsolete politics, always at the services of a few”.
“We are faced with old exploration, but based on new expressions. If this labor package has anything to do with modern times, it is with Charlie Chaplin’s modern times,” commented Paulo Raimundo.
The general secretary of the PCP even advocated that, behind the liberal terminology, “after it has been squeezed and cleaned of all its demagogy and hypocrisy, what comes out is always more and more exploitation”.
“The labor package opens the way for employers to decide even more about the time, conditions and salaries of workers, especially women workers. They want to further weaken the already fragile condition of working women”, he emphasized.
After warning about the consequences of an extension of fixed-term contracts and the introduction into law of an individual time bank, the secretary general of the PCP suggested that, in terms of individual dismissal, without just cause, what is foreseen could be unconstitutional.
“The current formulation, which involves dismissal without just cause, is exactly in fear of article 53 of the Constitution [sobre segurança no emprego]to see if they bypass it. But they don’t go around it, because before we get there we are going to tear down this labor package”, he said.
In addition to attacking the Minister of Labor, Maria do Rosário da Palma Ramalho, accused of having a “latent hatred” for parental rights, Paulo Raimundo also critically highlighted a recent intervention by the Minister of Economy, Manuel Castro Almeida, at the Web Summit.
“In the midst of all that technology, he got the idea that the labor package implies a loss of comfort – this was the expression of the Minister of Economy. Is it the loss of comfort from the accumulation of astronomical profits from large companies? Was he talking about the comfort of the banks and the large distribution stores that are filling up – and we are paying for it?”, he asked.
Afterwards, he left a “certainty” about the Minister of Economy.
“If the Minister of Economy spent 15 days living with the reality of precarious work, low wages, living with difficulties, his concept of comfort would certainly change quickly and drastically. Let him try this life for a few days”, he suggested.
In the final part of the speech, Paulo Raimundo addressed the women to say that “they do not need closed health services, closed or intermittent obstetric emergencies”.
“They don’t need to and can’t live in insecurity and in the permanent risk of not knowing where their child will be born, whether it’s in the Moita ambulance, whether it’s in the stairwell, whether it’s in a private car, a kilometer away on the highway. For women, every single day is a day of new struggles”, she added.