December 11 saw a massive general strike in Portugal. This was not just a workplace dispute but a political strike, directed against the government’s planned labor reform.
Trade unions widely see this as a devaluation of labor and a profound attack on labor rights — in short, a class offensive. The massive participation in the strike shows that workers felt this way too.
The bill, often referred to as the labor reform package, was proposed by the current right-wing government, which unites the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the CDS–People’s Party (CDS-PP). It introduces over one hundred regressive amendments to labor law, clearly aimed at shifting the balance of power in favor of employers.
These measures were neither presented nor debated during this spring’s general electoral campaign. They represent a deliberate rollback of labor rights, reviving and deepening the offensive launched during the Portuguese sovereign debt crisis (2010–14), also overseen by a PSD-CDS government.
Since 2010, there have been frequent revisions to the labor law. Indeed, we can divide the last decade and a half into two major periods. First were the austerity years, with cuts in public spending, tax hikes, and the privatization of strategic sectors. This moment also included the memorandum of understanding with the troika, made up of the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund. All this contributed to the consolidation of a neoliberal economic and labor regime. Then came the post-troika period, initially characterized by Socialist-led governments with left-wing support, in the so-called “contraption” (geringonça) arrangement. It sought to restore wages and pensions cut during austerity and to address labor precarity.
During the austerity phase, labor legislation worsened significantly. Measures incorporated into the labor law sought to reduce labor costs, particularly by making it easier to dismiss workers and also…
Auteur: Irina Castro
