Santa Marta, Colombia, Nov. 10, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's prime minister said on Sunday that the general strike called by the CGTP and UGT trade union confederations "is incomprehensible", saying that it only serves to "look after the interests" of the Communist and Socialist Parties, which "doesn't look good" for the trade union movement.
Speaking to journalists on the final stretch of the 4th EU-CELAC Summit, which took place in Santa Marta (Colombia), Luís Montenegro was asked about the announcement by the CGTP on Saturday and by the UGT on Sunday that they would go ahead with a series of general strikes on 11 December, the central motivation being the labour package being discussed in social dialogue.
"Frankly, I can't see any other reason for this position of the trade union centres than to look at interests that, from my point of view, shouldn't be the prevailing ones, which is the interest of the parties that are, above all, linked to the management of the two trade union confederations," he said.
Montenegro said he really wanted to realise who he was talking about: "I'm talking about the Communist Party, which wants to show its existence through its trade union network in the CGTP, and I'm talking about the Socialist Party, which will also want to show its political existence as an opposition, taking advantage of some preponderance it has in the UGT," he said.
The prime minister reiterated that he considered the scheduling of the strike to be "extemporaneous and even anachronistic", since there is still no legislation approved by the Cabinet.
"Nobody can understand it, and, in my opinion, it doesn't look good for the trade union movement. I think the unions have everything they need to fulfil their task and role - I don't want to prejudge them; I think it's very good that they represent the labour interests of Portuguese workers - but when the reality of the country doesn't match the reality of the unions, something is wrong. It's not the country," he said.
Asked about Chega's challenge to back down on some issues in the labour package, Montenegro said he was open to talking to all parties when the bill reaches parliament, not least because the PSD and CDS-PP don't have the majority to approve it on their own.
Montenegro also argued that "the government has done everything to avoid all strikes" and reiterated that, in his view, "there is no objective matter that could lead to a general strike".
The prime minister pointed out that this government has already made 19 labour agreements or agreements with an impact on labour, pay and careers and stressed that, in 2024, Portugal was among the 38 OECD countries where people's incomes rose the most.
Asked if the government was willing to negotiate to try to avoid this strike, Montenegro replied that the government "is where it has always been, available for dialogue".
"If you tell me that the main issue, not to say the only one, is the impetus you want to give to a labour law that you want to be more friendly to employment and good jobs and at a time when this proposal is being discussed in the social consultation, it's on the table, your question is, are we available to negotiate?" he asked.
And he replied: "We're negotiating, we're in the middle of negotiating, there hasn't even been an approval in the cabinet yet, there hasn't even been a referral of a proposal to parliament," he emphasised.
Montenegro assured that the government "will not speed up or slow down" the negotiations with the social partners and that, once the cabinet has approved the law, it will be referred to parliament.
"And I told all the political parties that I was available so that when this work of consultation was completed and there was a bill approved in final terms in the cabinet, we would open up its discussion and also its inter-party negotiation in the parliamentary space. That's what we're going to do," he said.
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