Lisbon, Dec. 10, 2025 (Lusa) - The general strike on 11 December will see minimum services in various sectors such as health and transport, although not all sectors will be affected, as is the case with the Lisbon Metro.
The CGTP and UGT trade union confederations have decided to call a general strike in response to the government's draft labour law reform bill. This will be the first strike to bring the two trade union confederations together since June 2013, when Portugal was under the “troika” intervention.
+++ Trains, trams and boats with minimum services, Lisbon Metro excluded +++
Minimum services will cover trains, boats and trams in Lisbon during Thursday's general strike. Still, the Metro will not be running, according to decisions announced by the Economic and Social Council (CES).
As for the railway sector, minimum services are defined at CP - Comboios de Portugal, and as for the manager Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP), they will be "those necessary to enable compliance with the minimum services decreed for CP, in addition to those identified in the minimum services proposal presented by the company relating to the circulation ensured by Fertagus and Medway".
In the Lisbon Metro, the CES Arbitration Court unanimously decided "not to set minimum services for train traffic", but at Carris, bus and tram services on 12 lines must be ensured. At Transtejo/Soflusa, 25% of routes must be operated between 6:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and between 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
+++ Minimum services for Galp supplies at Lisbon Airport +++
Fiequimetal and the river transport union agreed with ICD and Iberlim on minimum services to ensure the supplies at Lisbon, Lajes and Santa Maria airports. Still, they failed to reach an agreement for Transtejo Soflusa.
According to the minutes published by the Directorate General for Employment and Labour Relations (DGERT), ICD and Fiequimetal - Inter-Union Federation of Metallurgical, Chemical, Electrical, Pharmaceutical, Cellulose, Paper, Printing, Press, Energy and Mining Industries, the definition of minimum services took into account a request made by Galp to ensure supplies at Lisbon Airport, where it has 13 workers per shift, and at the airports in the Azores on the islands of Lajes and Santa Maria, where it has two and four workers, respectively.
Fiequimetal's proposal, accepted by the ICD, stipulates two workers per shift for Lisbon Airport, one for Lajes Airport and one for Santa Maria.
+++ ANA and Sitava agree on minimum services with "strictly necessary means" +++
ANA - Aeroportos de Portugal and the Aviation and Airport Workers' Union (Sitava) agreed to ensure the "strictly necessary means" during the general strike to meet the minimum services set for airport activity.
At a meeting held at the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, the minutes of which were released by DGERT, the parties agreed, at ANA's request, to "postpone the negotiation of the effective means to a later date, after the full minimum services defined for this strike are known".
"ANA highlighted the need to reach agreement on the principle of combining the various services necessary to provide the minimum services, already defined or to be defined," the minutes read. In this regard, the company asked Sitava "to send the agreements already reached by this union".
+++TAP agreed on minimum services with several unions +++
TAP Air Portugal has agreed with several unions to provide minimum services during the general strike on 11 December, according to documents published by the Directorate-General for Employment and Labour Relations (DGERT).
The agreement disclosed by DGERT was with Sitava - Aviation and Airport Workers' Union, Sitema - Aircraft Maintenance Technicians' Union, SIMA - Metalworking and Related Industries Union and SNPVAC - National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel.
The carrier will operate three return flights to the Azores and two to Madeira, and one return flight to the following countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, France, Cabo Verde and Guinea-Bissau.
Three return flights to Brazil and two to the USA are also included.
+++ Azores Airlines and SATA Air Açores with minimum services +++
Minimum services have been decreed for both Azores Airlines and SATA Air Açores, and reservations for flights covered by these minimum services may be changed.
Azores Airlines has nine flights covered by minimum services, covering Ponta Delgada, Porto and Lisbon, Funchal and Terceira. Interisland connections are guaranteed for flights covering Ponta Delgada, Flores, Terceira and São Jorge.
The handling company SPdH will also assist with flights covered by the minimum services of TAP and Sata, plus a return flight to Germany operated by Lufthansa. It also assists with return flights to the base that departed before the start of the strike.
+++ Emergencies, palliative care and dressings in minimum health services +++
Minimum health services for the general strike include emergency care, chemotherapy, palliative care, and dressings, according to the decision of the CES Arbitration Court.
Among the services that must be ensured on the day of the general strike are "emergencies, as well as all situations that could result in irreparable/irreversible damage or damage that is difficult to repair, medically justified".
Minimum services include emergency operating theatres, permanent inpatient services, home hospitalisation, and palliative care, intensive care, haemodialysis, and cancer treatment, depending on priority.
Procedures for voluntary termination of pregnancy that are essential for compliance with the legal deadline for termination are also covered, as are organ collection and transplants and medically assisted reproduction procedures, if failure to perform them would jeopardise the procedure.
Treatment of chronic patients with biological products and/or drugs, and/or on an outpatient basis, is also included in the minimum services.
Minimum services will also include the continuation of treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy or nuclear medicine programmes and the complementary services that are essential to the performance of these services. Daily outpatient treatments (such as dressings) and the treatment of complex wounds will also be minimum services, as will be breastfeeding services.
+++ Minimum services defined by Portugal's National Medical Emergency Institute (INEM) +++
INEM has announced that minimum services for the general strike have been defined and expressed its conviction that pre-hospital emergency technicians will ensure that no emergency will be left unattended.
"Minimum services have been defined, and Portugal's National Medical Emergency Institute (INEM) is notifying the workers designated to comply with them, to ensure that the response to medical emergencies continues to be guaranteed for all citizens," the institute told the Lusa news agency.
+++ REN power utility agrees with unions on minimum services equivalent to weekends +++
The REN Group has agreed with several unions to provide the minimum services necessary to ensure activity similar to that on weekends or public holidays during the general strike, according to a document from the DGERT.
DGERT announced the agreement on the definition of minimum services following a meeting among representatives of the REN Group, the National Industry and Energy Union (Sindel), the Service Sector Workers' Union (Sitese), and Fiequimetal.
According to the meeting minutes, the unions agreed with REN's proposal that the minimum services to be ensured during the general strike should be those necessary and sufficient to ensure that activity is carried out on weekends or public holidays.
+++ Minimum services on Metro Mondego determine maintenance of operation +++
The minimum services decreed for the general strike on Metro Mondego maintain the “metrobus” in Coimbra in its entirety, but reduce alternative services to the Lousã branch line.
The agreement establishes that the preliminary operation of the “metrobus” (articulated bus on a dedicated lane) will be maintained in its entirety (operating from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., every ten minutes). Still, it suspends traffic on six buses that provide alternative services on the Lousã branch line (ensuring the connection between this municipality and Coimbra).
MES/ADB // ADB.
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