Portugal’s public sector stage strike demanding end of austerity, 35-hour work week

The General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers, an umbrella organization representing 600,000 government workers in Portugal, staged a 24-hour strike Friday to end  quick. Meanwhile the Federação Nacional dos Sindicatos dos Trabalhadores em Funções Públicas e Sociais (FNSTFPS), which is the union for the public sector workers, refused to cancel their strike demanding 35-hour work week.

CNBC reported that the new Socialist government has already approved the 35-hour working week for the civil servants. Current working week is 40 hours. The Common Front demanded that the change must be implemented sooner. The government is working on restoring the pay for the civil servants and bring the four public holidays. There are also moves to increase the lowest pensions and cut tax for low-income earners.

The government believes that these measures will boost consumption that will help better growth for the nation.

Meanwhile, Reuters wrote that the minority Social government, which has been in power for only two months, is getting increasing pressure from its far-left allies. The present government needs the Communist and Left Bloc to approve the bills. These three parties recently ousted in November the former center-right administration, which is austerity-minded.

According to Daily Mail UK, there are analysts who predict that this new government might not last long if the far-left parties pressure them on passing more radical policies and ramp up spending. Meanwhile, the new government is more concerned in moderating budget consolidation and lessening austerity measures. The government has not yet reported the budget bill for 2016.

"Public sector workers will go on strike on Jan. 29 because nothing has changed for us to suspend it. Our central demand is immediate reinstatement of 35 hours," said union leader Ana Avoila.

There will be a meeting on Thursday with the finance minister to tackle this issue. Meanwhile, the political uncertainty and the social problems that is plaguing Portugal could fend investors away, which is a very bad thing after the debt crisis the nation recently suffered.

Tags

Portugal, austerity, CGTP, FNSTFPS, union workers, General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers, austerity measures, tax, pension, public sector

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