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Portuguese unions launch protest week against austerity
Dec 12, 2011, 15:24 GMT
Lisbon - Portugal's top trade union confederation CGTP on Monday launched a week of protests against the government's austerity policies.
The decision by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho's conservative government to lengthen the legal working hours by half an hour daily was 'a declaration of war to workers,' CGTP leader Manuel Carvalho da Silva said.
The second protest week since October was due to include demonstrations and spontaneous work stoppages.
On November 24, unions also staged a general strike against spending cuts agreed upon with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, which have granted Lisbon a bailout worth 78 billion euros (101 billion dollars).
'We want to send a strong signal to the government,' Carvalho da Silva said.
The austerity policies are aimed at trimming the budget deficit from 9.8 per cent in 2010 to 4.5 per cent by 2012.
Critics, however, say the austerity programmes increases poverty and undermines growth in the country, where the government expects the economy to contract by 1.6 per cent this year and by 3 per cent in 2012.
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