Portugal’s main public sector workers’ union is delivering a week of anti-austerity campaigns in the run-up to a second General Strike to take place on March 22.
The Common Front of Unions (Frente Comum de Sindicatos) has set aside this week for demonstrations after studying the working conditions of the public administration and the problems workers in the sector face to do with the taking away of rights and a reduction in salaries and pensions, not to mention the contents of a document presented by the Government to Parliament to apply a parliamentary public sector labour review, which the union is also contesting.
The Common Front is calling for the need to “widen the struggle” in the sense of mobilising its members and those of other unions for a General Strike.
“The problems of the public sector and private sector workers are the same: an increase in the cost of living, taxes and social problems. That’s why this week’s call to arms serves as preparation in creating momentum for a general strike,” says the union’s coordinator Ana Aviola.
The week of demonstrations, which will end on March 5, includes gatherings, meetings and debates.
On Thursday, the Common Front was due to take part in the district campaigns being organised by the country’s largest union, the CGTP, as part of a wider European unions’ initiative.
