The National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof) announced this Thursday, November 20th, that it will join the general strike on December 11th, demonstrating against the threat of “civilizational regression” within the scope of labor law reform.
“After a vast consultation process, involving hundreds of meetings and union plenaries across the country, and considering the consideration of the unions that make up this federation, Fenprof decided, on a basis of unity and action with the remaining workers, to converge on the general strike”, explained the union organization.
In a statement, Fenprof argues that the draft amendment to the labor law represents a “serious attack on workers’ rights” and a “civilizational setback”.
Regarding the Government’s proposals, it criticizes, in particular, what it classifies as an attack on freedom of association and the right to strike, the loss of maternity and paternity rights, or the uncontrolled flexibilization of working hours.
“At a time when educators, teachers and researchers are deeply mobilized by the urgency of enhancing their careers (…), the approval of a project of this nature would constitute a very serious civilizational setback, with consequences that would quickly affect all sectors”, add the professors.
The strike notice will be delivered on Friday to the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation.
The general strike on December 11th against the Government’s draft reform of labor legislation will be the first strike to bring together the two unions, CGTP and UGT, since June 2013, when Portugal was under intervention by the ‘troika’.