The coordinator of the Common Front said today that the civil service strike is “one of the biggest” in recent years, with membership in “all sectors”, anticipating that the day will “demonstrate the strength of the workers”.
“We’re facing one of the biggest strikes by public administration workers, central, regional and local, in recent years,” said Sebastião Santana, speaking to journalists at the Passos Manuel Primary and Secondary School in Lisbon.
Sebastião Santana said that there was “very strong adherence [to the strike] throughout the country”, although he couldn’t give specific figures yet, claiming that “the workers agree with the proposals of the Common Front”.
“We still can’t accept that the government continues to throw many billions of euros at sectors that are already overfunded by the state budget and forgets about those who ensure public services and the strengthening of the state’s social functions,” he stressed.
Asked if, given the strike’s adherence, he believes that the government will have to give in, the coordinator of the Common Front replied that the executive “has been intransigent” and said that, despite having said at the beginning of the absolute majority that it would engage in dialogue, “this dialogue has not happened effectively to date”.
“The government is in a position to change this. The workers’ struggle will be no less intransigent than the government if it wants to continue to keep workers impoverished and public services degraded,” he said.
On October 9, the Common Front of Public Administration Unions (of the CGTP) announced the national workers’ strike that is taking place today, considering that the government’s proposal for salary increases for 2024 “is miserable”.
