On the eve of the general strike called by the CGTP and UGT, António Filipe says that he would “push presidential powers to the limit” if he were to take the decision to enact the changes to labor legislation sought by the Government. And he adds that he hopes that the mobilization this Thursday will lead to the proposal, which it describes as a “profound setback in workers’ rights”, being withdrawn.
Expecting a “very high level of support from workers who can join”, the former communist deputy says he hopes that the next President of the Republic “will not have to intervene”. And, if elected, he guarantees that he would raise, with the Constitutional Court, the verification of the constitutionality of rules such as the non-reinstatement of a worker whose dismissal is considered illegal.
For her part, Catarina Martins uses the example of Mário Soares, who in 1988 was nicknamed “blocking force” by then Prime Minister Cavaco Silva for supporting a general strike when he was President of the Republic. Making yet another appeal to the socialist electorate, the Left Bloc MEP highlights that “broad sectors realize that what the Government is trying to do” is profound violence against workers.
“If our salaries are low and our jobs are precarious, we will not have a strong economy”, reinforces Catarina Martins, without seeing that there is a path to understanding if the Government “does not have another proposal to be negotiated”. And he leaves a warning to all workers, “unionized or not”: everyone has the right to strike.