Public sector unions are calling on their members to hold a ‘second day of paralysation’ this week, following the general strike on Thursday. This way, strikers will get (yet another) long weekend before Christmas (there have already been two…)
Tabloid Correio da Manhã brings this story today saying that the ‘ponte’ (Portuguese term for stretching a day off to make a long weekend) “threatens to condition the activity of public institutions like Social Security, the Finanças (tax offices), courts, and council/ parish council services – meaning schools, rubbish collection and health services.
Schools are reportedly already warning parents “not to leave their children” at the gates on Friday without being absolutely sure that the school is functioning.
CM explains the idea for scheduling yet another strike on Friday also coincides with the decision of SITOPAS (the union of public sector workers and social support) to protest in the strongest terms over the government’s proposed labour reforms.
Instead of lumping SITOPAS in with all the other unions that have already joined the general strike, the decision has been made to just schedule a second day of walk-outs.
Equally, SINDEPOR – the democratic syndicate of nurses – has decided to wage a two-day strike against the government’s ‘interruption of negotiations’ over their own Labour Code – and this would take nurses up to the weekend.
SINDEPOR says its members will respect the ‘minimum services’ imposed by the government, but complains that in many cases these imply “more nurses working than normal daily rosters”. Indeed, the union is already complaining that minimum services will have a ‘diluting effect’ on the strike.
And this is, of course, one of the main ‘complaints’ by unions over the government’s proposals for labour reform: they are seen as taking away rights won over the years, including the right to strike without being forced to perform minimum services.
Source: Correio da Manhã
