The union confederations, CGTP and UTP, after a first meeting with the delegation of International Monetary Fund (IMF)/European Commission (EC)/European Central Bank (ECB), stated their main concerns about the potential bailout. Secretary General of CGTP, Manuel Carvalho da Silva, said they had asked for an extension of the period to reduce the deficit to less than 3% at least until 2013, and expressed opposition to measures similar to those applied in other countries. The CGTP leader added that his confederation had insisted on proposals that promote economic growth and avoid situations of social disruption, reaffirming its opinion that “austerity packages do not lead to economic growth.” Secretary General of UGT, João Proença, declared that his confederation had advocated the implementation of the tripartite agreement for competitiveness and employment signed in March. UGT drew attention to the fact that the system of collective redundancy in Portugal is one of the most liberal in Europe. During the 1 May celebrations, CGTP and UGT focused on the ongoing negotiations and once again highlighted their concerns. During these celebrations CGTP called for a national demonstration on 19 May 2011. This call resulted in two CGTP manifestations on 19 May with mass participation, one in Lisbon with about 50,000 participants and one in Porto with 15,000.
English: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2011/05/articles/pt1105019i.htm
Portuguese: CGTP leaflet and further information
This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.