{"id":106289,"date":"2025-12-11T03:54:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T03:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=106289"},"modified":"2025-12-11T03:54:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T03:54:00","slug":"portugal-braced-for-mass-disruption-in-first-general-strike-for-12-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=106289","title":{"rendered":"Portugal braced for mass disruption in first general strike for 12 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>3 Minute, 49 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Portugal is facing severe disruption to transport, flights, hospitals, schools and other public services on Thursday, as the two main union federations stage a general strike over unprecedented labour reforms.<\/p>\n

The last time the CGTP and the generally less militant UGT joined forces was during the eurozone debt crisis in 2013, when a \u201ctroika\u201d of international institutions demanded cuts in salaries and pensions as part of Portugal\u2019s bailout.<\/p>\n

Twelve years later, Portugal\u2019s economy has become the fastest growing in the eurozone in recent months, but Prime Minister Lu\u00eds Montenegro says it is still necessary to tackle \u201crigidities\u201d in the labour market \u201cso companies can be more profitable and workers have better salaries\u201d as a result.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not give up on having a country with the ambition to be at the forefront, to be at the vanguard of Europe,\u201d he said on the eve of the strike.<\/p>\n

However, Montenegro appears to have been taken aback by the strength of feeling against his minority right-of-centre government\u2019s plans: one of his Social Democrat MPs is on the UGT executive and even he voted for a strike.<\/p>\n

The prime minister tweaked some proposals after calling the federation in for talks late last month, but it was clearly not enough.<\/p>\n

Among the most controversial of the more than 100 proposals are:<\/p>\n