Portugal experienced 10 general strikes in 50 years and almost half were during the Passos Government

Of the ten general strikes in the last 50 years, four occurred during Pedro Passos Coelho’s executive, during the troika period, the first being on November 24, 2011, against austerity measures, followed by new strikes on March 22, 2011. 2012, on November 14, 2012 and on June 27, 2013.

The “time tape” shows that the first general strike in the country took place on February 12, 1982, during the Democratic Alliance (AD) government headed by Francisco Pinto Balsemão, and had as its general motto “One Solution: AD out from the government!”.

According to the book “50 Years of Struggle with Workers” organized by former CGTP leader José Ernesto Cartaxo, at the end of 1981 unemployment in the country was 8.8% and the OECD forecast for inflation for the following year was of 25%, with the AD government announcing a salary “ceiling” of 14.75% and the intention of reviewing labor law to “facilitate dismissals”, which caused an “explosive” social situation.

The year 1982 was not even halfway done when the country stopped for a new general strike, in May, called by the CGTP “against repression” and in defense of freedoms and the achievements of April.

Six years later, on March 28, 1988, the reason for a general strike in the country, which brought together the two unions, CGTP and UGT, for the first time, was the labor package presented by the PSD government, led by Aníbal Cavaco Silva. , with this strike being preceded by intense struggle with several strikes in the transport sector.

Under the slogan “No to the Labor Package; for Employment, for Progress”, it was preceded by a national day of struggle, on March 17, which paralyzed most of the industry and all transport, “setting up a general pre-strike” , recalls the aforementioned book.

At the end of May of the same year, the Constitutional Court ended up agreeing with the unions, declaring unconstitutional the rules set out in Cavaco Silva’s executive labor package, which altered the legal regime governing the termination of the individual employment contract.

Only 14 years later, on December 10, 2002, during the time of the PSD/CDS-PP government led by Durão Barroso, there was a new general strike, called by the CGTP and also by the UGT, against the changes to labor legislation presented by the then minister of Labor, António Bagão Félix.

The list of reasons for this strike also included demands for improving the purchasing power of salaries and a fairer and more equitable tax policy.

The socialist majority government, headed by José Sócrates, also faced a general strike on May 30, 2007 against the revision of the Bagão Félix Labor Code which, in the view of the unions, would be changed for the worse, with greater flexibility in working hours and the elimination of some steps in the dismissal process.

The denunciation and fight against “flexicurity” were also at the origin of this general strike – the first of two that Sócrates would face as head of the executive.

The fight against “exploitation and impoverishment” was the general motto of the four general strikes carried out during Passos Coelho’s government, with the last one, on June 27, 2023, adding the expression “Government, street!” to the motto.