Amid growing poverty, unemployment
Portugal shut down as 3 million workers strike
By
John Catalinotto
Published Dec 5, 2010 10:16 PM
During the 10 days Workers World visited Portugal starting Oct. 23, the working
class and progressive movements there were preparing for two major actions.
They planned an anti-war protest for Nov. 20. That day 30,000 people marched
against the summit of the NATO powers in Lisbon, where leaders of the major
imperialist countries in Europe and North America plotted to use the former
anti-Soviet alliance to police the world for the imperialist banks and
corporations.
And they planned for a general strike on Nov. 24. It was the first massive
workers’ action in Portugal in recent years to include both public and
private sector workers, workers with job security and those whose jobs might be
at risk. It was to answer the growing poverty among workers and the unemployed
while corporate and banking profits are up.
The strike issues were similar to those workers have been facing throughout
Europe, especially in the poorer countries. Through the European Union, the
European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, European big capital
has been attacking workers’ wages and government benefits with the
pretext of cutting state budget deficits.
In Portugal, according to the main labor federation, the CGTP-IN, “The
general strike is against: the so-called austerity measures; cuts in wages of
public administration workers and workers from public enterprises and the
general loss of purchasing power of all workers; the rise in the cost of
living; the bosses’ attacks on workers’ rights; the blockade of
collective bargaining; the cuts in social protection, freezing of pensions for
3.5 million pensioners and cuts or elimination of children’s allowances
for 1.5 million children and youngsters; and workers’ and people’s
impoverishment and growing inequalities.” (grevegeral.net)
Portugal is one of the poorest of the West European countries and one with
extremely unequal incomes. Its population is about 11 million, with about 5.6
million in the work force — some 10 percent are officially
unemployed.
Most participation in decades
This is the union leadership’s assessment of the Nov. 24 general
strike:
“The CGTP-IN considers that the general strike was an extraordinary
success. With the participation of over 3 million workers, it was undoubtedly
the largest ever trade union strike in our country. The strike was transversal,
with enormous work stoppages, both in the public and private sectors, having
involved workers of all professional categories.
“There was an outstanding participation in the transport sector,
particularly with the total closure of all civil aviation and ports activity in
the Portuguese mainland and islands, as well as massive participation (in some
cases 100 percent) in the public and private transport companies, in all major
cities and across the whole country. The participation was also particularly
high in education, health, local government and in the manufacturing industry,
in several regions.”
The CGTP-IN reports that of 553 flights scheduled at the airports that day,
“not one took off.” (grevegeral.net)
The editors at the Marxist website odiario.info added these observations:
“Everyone at work, and throughout the country, participated: workers,
employees, intellectual workers, artists and other cultural workers, men,
women, youth. Workers in jobs without contract, who are targets of the most
violent pressure and extortion, defied their precarious situation as shown, for
example, in the significant participation in the supermarkets. ...
“Many thousands of workers struck for their first time in this amazing
day of struggle. They will not forget, indeed, this day they took their place
in the long struggle for the emancipation of labor. ...
“The overwhelming reality was a country brought to a standstill by the
will of its workers. Following a different policy and program, the same workers
can bring the country out of the quagmire to which the right-wing policy has
brought it.”
The most thorough coverage of the strike was in Avante, the weekly newspaper of
the Portuguese Communist Party, which was the major party also giving strongest
support to the strikers. PCP General Secretary Jerónimo de Sousa called
the strike “a victory over resignation and conformity” and said it
“confirmed the great value of struggle.”
On Nov. 26, the Socialist Party government, with the backing of the rightist
parties and the Portuguese bosses and bankers, defied the Portuguese workers
and passed the austerity budget. If they dared to challenge the working class
after that magnificent show of unity and struggle in the general strike, it can
only be because they — the Portuguese rulers — feel the support and
the insistence of the European bankers at their backs.
What this means is that even as powerful an action as the Nov. 24 general
strike must be seen as a step toward further battles in a long class war.
“The struggle continues,” said many Portuguese workers’
leaders following the strike.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email:
[email protected]
Subscribe
[email protected]
Support independent news
DONATE