Lisbon, Sept. 5, 2025 (Lusa) - The former leaders of the CGTP-IN union confederation, Manuel Carvalho da Silva, and the UGT union confederation, José Torres Couto, are launching an appeal to these union structures to unite in mobilising workers against the government's changes to labour laws.
"The signatories call on the CGTP and the UGT to converge in the mobilisation of workers in the fight to defend their rights and interests," reads a joint statement issued by the two historic leaders of the unions, to which the Lusa news agency has had access.
The appeal from the former leaders is for the union structures also to exert "their influence on the opposition parties (particularly the PS) to reject the measures announced by the government".
"Finally, our appeal to the CGTP and the UGT is also to act accordingly, both in the social consultation council and with the president of Portugal, as well as with other civil society organisations and entities," reads the note announcing a press conference by Manuel Carvalho da Silva and José Torres Couto for 11:30 on Friday.
In this appeal to trade union structures and Portuguese workers, the former union leaders emphasise that the AD government led by Luís Montenegro "has decided to attack workers' rights, without this intention having been announced in its election campaign" for the legislative elections in May.
"Luís Montenegro, by omission, lied to the Portuguese and to the workers in particular! Would Luís Montenegro have had the same number of votes in the legislative elections if he had announced that he was going to propose 100 changes to labour laws that were contrary to the interests and rights of workers?" ask Manuel Carvalho da Silva, former secretary-general of the CGTP-IN, and José Torres Couto, former secretary-general of the UGT.
The historic leaders also point out that "unfulfilled promises, repeated lies and disastrous privatisations and other deals, indicative of corruption, are the basis of the disillusionment of many thousands of Portuguese with the democratic regime and are the main reason for the rise in influence of fascist movements and parties in Portugal".
And they attribute the "stagnation of the national economy (...) to the persistence in maintaining a retrograde low-wage policy which does not encourage employers to invest in technological innovation and improved management".
The draft reform of labour legislation approved by the government, which is still being negotiated with the social partners, provides for the revision of "more than a hundred" articles of the Labour Code.
The changes envisaged in the proposal - called “Work XXI” and which the government presented on 24 July as an "in-depth" revision of labour legislation - range from the area of parenting (with changes to parental leave, breastfeeding and gestational bereavement) to flexible working, training in companies or the trial period of employment contracts, as well as extending the sectors that minimum services will cover in the event of a strike.
According to the minister of labour, solidarity and social security, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, the aim is to make labour regimes "which are very rigid" more flexible, to increase the "competitiveness of the economy and promote the productivity of companies".
According to the minister, the reform "values workers through merit", stimulates employment, "especially youth employment", and boosts collective bargaining.
The CGTP has called for demonstrations against the changes to the labour law in Lisbon and Porto on 20 September, and protests organised by a group of women citizens, with the slogan "Nothing can silence us when our children's dignity depends on our strength", are also planned for 13 September.
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