Lisbon, Oct. 24, 2025 (Lusa) - The public administration strike on Friday in Portugal is seeing "enormous take-up", with 90% participation in health and education, but also in the justice and tax authorities, reflecting the "widespread feeling" among workers to "move forward with the fight", according to the trade union confederation, CGTP.
"Overall, the assessment being made in the health sector, the education sector, the tax authority [and] the justice system shows that there is currently enormous support among workers for this day of action," said CGTP leader Tiago Oliveira in statements to the Lusa news agency.
Pointing to levels of support "of around 90%" in the health and education sectors, the union leader said that there were "schools completely closed" and "one or two educational establishments that will have opened due to decisions by school management, but with a huge shortage of support staff to provide services in these schools".
For Tiago Oliveira, this "huge turnout" highlights "the widespread feeling among workers to move forward with the struggle, to denounce the policy that has been followed of wage devaluation, lack of investment in public services and lack of response to the central issues of everyone's lives".
Emphasising, in particular, "the issue of defending public services", the CGTP leader criticises the "decades of degradation and lack of investment in public services".
"This state budget is a reflection of that. A state budget that continues to perpetuate a policy of degradation of public services, of lack of response, whether to the national health service or to state schools. And so, there is a very important signal here [which] this Government must look at," he argued.
For the CGTP, it is "a sign that workers are deeply dissatisfied with their career enhancement and their prospects for the future", demanding "a different perspective from the one that is currently imposed and which this government is continuing".
In this context, Tiago Oliveira guarantees that a general strike remains on the table, pointing out that the fact that only after presenting the state budget for 2026 did the Government begin negotiations with the unions regarding the salary enhancements for the public administration "reveals a lack of understanding and a lack of awareness of what life is like for most workers".
"And if we look at the response of these workers, what we have been saying from the outset, even as a result of the labour package that is also under discussion, remains true: the greater the attack, the greater the response from these workers. In view of this, either the government backs down on its positions and the policy it is pursuing, or all forms of struggle are on the table," he concluded.
At midnight today, the Common Frontm which represents 29 trade unions from all sectors of the Public Administration began a "major strike" against the government, which it accuses of degrading working conditions and disinvesting in public services.
Wage increases, career enhancement, the restoration of public sector employment contracts and the defence of public services are also reasons for calling the strike, which covers all state workers.
The national doctors' federation (Fnam) has also called a strike for Friday, which will coincide with that of the civil service, on the grounds that the government is refusing to negotiate the medical career.
On 9 October, the government submitted the 2026 state budget proposal to the parliament, maintaining the initial forecast of salary increases for civil servants provided for in the multi-year agreement signed in November 2024 with the Federation of Public Administration and Public Entities Trade Unions (Fesap) and the Trade Union Front.
PD/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
