Thousands protested in Lisbon on Friday against the government’s planned labor reforms, which unions say will ease outsourcing and ban overtime pay, violating workers’ rights and increasing job insecurity.
The minority centre-right government approved a draft bill in September to amend the labor code aimed at tackling structurally low productivity.
But it triggered the country’s first general strike in more than a decade in December, with unions accusing the government of siding with employers to strip rights from low-wage workers struggling with rising living costs.
Portugal’s largest union, the CGTP, said “tens of thousands” took over the capital’s main thoroughfare, while police gave no estimate on the number of protesters.
Ines Branco, a 33-year-old shop assistant, said the reforms would hurt workers “in every way” – from making it easier to fire staff to reducing time for family life.
He said that any change will not improve the lives of workers.
“With the cost of living rising, employees are working 40 hours a week and still can’t pay bills at the end of the month, while companies are making millions in profits. This is unacceptable,” he said.
Mandatory consultations are being held with unions and business groups before the bill is submitted to parliament, where the largest opposition party, far-right Chega, has said it is likely to support it.
“We have not chosen to use the government or lawmakers as punching bags,” said Vanessa Teixeira, a 45-year-old primary school teacher.
Portugal is one of the poorest countries in Western Europe, with official figures showing that more than half of workers earn less than 1,000 euros ($1,180) in gross wages per month.
Portugal’s labor productivity per hour is 80.5% of the EU average, the fifth lowest in the bloc, according to Eurostat data.
Although the government has dropped some tough protest measures – including plans to make just cause dismissals easier – unions say key concerns remain.
They include proposals to remove limits on outsourcing and create “personal time banks”, allowing employees to work up to two hours more than the standard eight-hour workday without immediate overtime pay, with the latter offset within the annual limit of 150 hours.
