With the legal coverage of the advance notice handed by CGTP-IN, which was supported and reinforced by others, all workers have the possibility and duty of class solidarity to join the general strike tomorrow, December 11. The reasons also affect everyone. We must reject and force the Government to withdraw the labour package, which threatens us all, and demand higher wages, more rights and more and better public services for everyone.
Announced at the National March organised by CGTP-IN in Lisbon on November 8, the general strike immediately had a visible effect: it brought up the discussion on the labour package on the agenda of institutions and society.
The draft bill, with over a hundred amendments to the Labour Code and other labour legislation, presented by the Government in the middle of summer on July 24, was immediately denounced by the National Trade Union Confederation as a brutal attack on the rights of all workers.
Extensive work to clarify and raise awareness was carried out by the structures of the unitary trade union movement. On September 20, the protest made itself heard on the streets of Lisbon and Porto. Plenary sessions, meetings and contacts continued in a large number of companies and services. The gathering of signatures for the petition launched by the confederation, which will be delivered to the Prime Minister in due course, progressed.
The National March against the labour package, with more than 100,000 people on Avenida da Liberdade, and the decision to call a general strike broke the curtain of silence. Attacks on the workers' struggle intensified, but the wave of indignation over the contents of the labour package rose even higher.
“It will undoubtedly be a great general strike,” commented Tiago Oliveira on the 5th., at a plenary session at Amtrol-Alfa in Guimarães. Quoted by Lusa news agency, the General Secretary of CGTP-IN said that “everything points in that direction.” On Saturday, the 6th., in an interview with the agency, he reiterated his expectation of a “strong participation.”
The CGTP-IN does not limit its criticism to the Minister of Labour, considering the Prime Minister to be “primarily responsible” for the content of the labour package and for the “climate” created around these legislative changes.
Labour package has to be withdrawn
In this interview, Tiago Oliveira described the Government's “openness to negotiation” as “a fallacy”. He recalled that, since the bill was presented, the CGTP-IN had held two bilateral meetings with the Government, in which the latter refused to accept any of the confederation's proposals or to make any changes to its draft bill.
Tiago Oliveira assured that the Intersindical “will not waive any meeting to which it is invited” and is available to negotiate, but refuses to “discuss how much we are going to back down on workers' rights”. The CGTP-IN General Secretary stated that the Government must “withdraw this proposal”, which is “a real onslaught on workers' rights”, so that “improvements in living and working conditions” can be discussed.
Expecting the strike to have a greater impact on sectors such as healthcare, education and transport, Tiago Oliveira assured that “minimum services will always be respected”.
Under the current legislation, these ensure what is essential and even “go beyond the normal functioning” of services. But the Government “is attacking the right to strike” by seeking to extend the sectors subject to minimum services. “What does the government mean when it classifies the food sector as a pressing social service?” asked the leader, arguing that the prime minister and other government officials should be concerned “with the reasons that led to the strike being called”, rather than showing concern for minimising its effects.
When questioned about the position of the UGT, which also joins this general strike, Tiago Oliveira assured that there is a common “determination” to carry out tomorrow's general strike, but he emphasised the responsibilities of each organisation in the future. “This general strike is convergent, it is not a joint general strike,” stressed the General Secretary of the CGTP-IN. This means that “each trade union central will follow its own path of mobilisation” and “will take responsibility for the path it chooses to take to respond” to the labour package.
“The work of mobilisation, clarification, unity and organisation for the struggle that the CGTP-IN has been carrying out in preparation for the general strike on December 11 shows the willingness and determination of the workers, who will not be fooled, to defeat this labour package and demand higher wages and more rights,” the confederation said on Saturday, December 6.
Desperate act
In a press release, the Prime Minister's statements on the general strike, the labour package and the national minimum wage were considered “a desperate act”.
The CGTP-IN noted that, “in view of the growing support” for the general strike, the Prime Minister argued that his changes to labour legislation open the door to a minimum wage of €1,500 and an average wage of €2,000 or €2,500. “The desperation goes even further” when he spoke "the very next day about €1,600 for the minimum wage and €3,000 for the average wage”.
Luís Montenegro revealed “a huge distance and lack of respect for the lives of millions of workers” and “an insult to the more than 2.5 million workers who have a gross monthly base salary of less than €1,000,” Inter accused.
Contrary to what the Prime Minister said, “the labour package presented by the Government does not aim to empower workers, nor to strengthen the conditions for increasing wages, nor to regulate working hours or give any additional guarantees to those who work”, but rather “it is an instrument for social and economic regression”.
This is a legislative package – emphasises CGTP-IN – that was “designed from the perspective and in the interests of employers”. “In each and every one of its more than 100 measures, it contributes to the individualisation of the employment relationship in a wide variety of areas, from the hiring of workers to the termination of employment, without neglecting any of the areas related to the provision of work” and affects “the forms and mechanisms of collective organisation and protection of workers”.
On struggle in the streets across the country
Throughout the day on the 11th., demonstrations, rallies and “strike plazas” will take place across the country, bringing the general strike to the streets.
In Lisbon, the demonstration from Rossio to São Bento will begin at 14.30 and will be preceded by a “strike plaza” at the starting point from 10.00.
In Porto, the rally is scheduled for 15.00 on Avenida dos Aliados.
In the district of Setúbal, two demonstrations are planned: in Praça do Quebedo, at 10.30 to Santa Casa da Misericórdia, and in Barreiro, at 15.00, between Rotunda do Luso and Parque Catarina Eufémia.
Demonstrations are also planned in Braga (from Arco da Porta Nova to Praça da República, starting at 10.00), Marinha Grande (at 16.30 from Avenida Vítor Gallo to Rotunda do Vidreiro) and Portalegre (from Rua Tenente Valadim to Rossio, at 11.30).
There will be strike plazas at 15.00 in Aveiro (Largo Dr. Jaime Magalhães Lima) and Santa Maria da Feira (Praça Dr. Gaspar Moreira). In Beja, the strike plaza is scheduled for 11.00 at Portas de Mértola, while in Coimbra, at the same time, workers will be at Praça 8 de Maio.
Other strike plazas will take place in Viana do Castelo (at 10.00 in Praça da República), Faro (in Largo da Pontinha at 11.30), Évora (in Praça do Giraldo at 14.30) and Santarém (at W Shopping at 11.00)
Rallies are planned outside town halls in Castelo Branco (12.00), Covilhã (16.00), Seia (10.30) and Guarda (hospital, 11.30). In Viseu, the rally will be in Rossio and is scheduled for 16.00.
In the autonomous regions, workers will take to the streets in Funchal at 11.30 in front of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, and from 10.30 in Ponta Delgada (at Portas da Cidade), Angra do Heroísmo (at Praça Velha) and Horta (at Largo Duque de Ávila e Bolama).
In «Avante!», December 10, 2025