The Prime Minister today asked trade unions to take responsibility to avoid a general strike, stressing that the Government still has a draft project and that negotiations on labor reform are ongoing.
Luís Montenegro left these messages in statements to journalists, after participating in the opening session of the “Capital Markets Day” conference, at Culturgest, in Lisbon.
When asked about the advice given by presidential candidate Marques Mendes that the Government should pay attention to UGT, with a view to reaching an agreement that avoids a general strike due to the reform of labor laws, Luís Montenegro replied that he gives “all possible attention to all social partners and to UGT in particular”.
“We have been in permanent contact – and that is how we will continue”, he assured.
“But there is no reason for there to be a general strike in Portugal, especially at a time when the country has many challenges to overcome. If it is important to emphasize that the capacity to claim is not in question, it is also important to say that it must be exercised with a sense of responsibility”, he warned.
The Prime Minister even classified it as unprecedented for UGT and CGTP-IN to join together for a general strike in the country’s current situation.
“At issue is a set of legislative changes that are under discussion and in formation. There is not even a final proposal. There is a draft that is on the negotiation table with all those involved in social consultation, in particular with the employers and workers’ representative bodies”pointed.
The prime minister then stressed that he does not intend to “exaggerate or limit the freedom that unions have to express their positions in relation to the country’s political and economic situation through their forms of struggle.”
“It’s not about being cowardly, it’s about demanding responsibility”he emphasized.
According to the Prime Minister, just as the Government is required to be responsible for “contributing so that workers have less taxes on their payroll at the end of the month, so that there is no deficit in public accounts, in the same way it is required that unions also have this sense of responsibility”.
“And that they do not collaborate to create instability that, at this moment, is much more penalizing for workers than favorable to anything”, he warned.
In front of journalists, the prime minister argued that workers’ income increased “very significantly in the last year” and that the same is expected for this year.
He also pointed out that Portugal has “a historically low unemployment rate, a very high level of employability, with a reduction in taxes on work”.
“It is a country that, at the moment, as a result of these two circumstances, of wage appreciation, on the one hand, and a reduction in taxes on the other hand, last year was the one where workers saw the highest income grow in the context of the OECD”, he maintained.
When asked if, given the favorable situation, what was the reason for changing the set of labor laws, the Prime Minister reacted: “Because we need to grow more”.
“This is a solid path, a path to success, but we want more. And to do more we have to be more competitive.”
“And for this it is also important to fine-tune labor legislation. That is what we want. Contrary to what is said in a simplistic and wrong way, we do not want to favor companies or employers. We want the economy, as a whole, to be more productive, to be more vibrant, because if it is more productive and stronger, wages will grow even more”, he argued.