THOUSANDS OF demonstrators took to the streets of Lisbon on November 25, protesting against government rationalisation policies for the civil service.
Organised by the Portuguese Transport and General Workers’ Union, its leader Carvalho da Silva promised to continue the fight and was confident of eventual victory.
“We will win our struggle and the country will get the change that it needs,” he said before a huge crowd gathered at Rossio Square.
The crowd began to file along to Cais do Sodré station, where the Secretary-General of the union talked about the daily violation of hundreds of thousands of workers in both the public and private sectors before launching an attack on the parallel clandestine economy, which in Portugal accounts for an estimated 22 per cent of all income earned.
When it came to the reforms to the nation’s social security and national health systems he warned that the war isn’t over and called for an improvement to the country’s health service.
