OVER 30,000 people took to the streets of Lisbon yesterday during one of the largest general strikes in Portugal’s history, the third since the country over threw dictatorship in 1974 and began the restoration of democracy.
Organised by Portugal’s main trade unions, the CGTP and UGT, workers from across the public sector united to protest the proposed 2012 budget cuts, which parliament votes on next week. The country is already facing harsh austerity measures from Pedro Passos Coelho’s centre-right government, under the pressure of the €78 billion bailout by the EU and International Monetary Fund.
“We are fighting against the privatisation of our industry and the theft of our wages. They are putting their hands in our pockets without any shame,” says postal worker Joao Isqueiro.
He says the strikers are demanding respect for workers, and fair distribution of the sacrifices that this crisis demands.
“It’s my son’s future I’m here fighting for,” says Isqueiro of his one-year-old son. “He hasn’t done anything to deserve this debt, and neither have I.”
Secretary general of the CGTP Manuel Carvalho de Silva announced the beginning of the strike at 8pm on Wednesday at Lisbon’s Portela airport where departure screens already showed a list of cancelled flights.
Public transport was the worst affected with the Lisbon metro shut down as well as the ferry port, and national airline TAP cancelling 121 of 140 scheduled flights. Many public schools and hospitals also joined the strike.
“Colossal theft - general strike!” was the slogan of the thousands who joined the protest march to demand better working rights and more transparency.
The “15 de Outubro” collective, part of the global October 15th protest movement, marched in solidarity with workers and afterwards held a general assembly in front of parliament. It calls for a more participatory democracy, where the wealthy are not “protected by a system of exception” and for transparency in policy decisions and taxation
“We are protesting against the government because of the measures the IMF have enforced on us,” says Carlos, a secondary school teacher in Lisbon who has brought his three young children to the march. “While the banks are profiting, the poor people are having their salaries cut and prices are rising.”
“The system is not respecting our interests. We are the people, we should be deciding what’s best for us,” says Patricia (32), part of the Occupy movement in Lisbon.
Pedro (34) believes the trade unions need to engage more with young people and come up with new approaches to initiate real change. “The unions are very important, but the way they are now is very conservative. They are very outdated,” he says. “Their methods are easy for the government to deal with.”
With Portugal suffering an unemployment rate of over 12 per cent and likely to face tougher austerity measures in 2012, a new solidarity between traditional workers’ unions and the new protest movements will continue to press for change.