- Title: PORTUGAL: Portuguese civil servants strike against wage freeze
- Date: 5th March 2010
- Summary: LISBON, PORTUGAL (MARCH 04, 2010) (REUTERS) PEOPLE QUEUING IN FRONT OF SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE PICKET LINE WITH BANNER READING "ENOUGH OF FREEZE WAGES . CIVIL SERVANTS IN FIGHT" VARIOUS OF PICKET LINE CLOSE OF JACKET READING: "WAGE FREEZES" (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) CO-ORDINATOR OF THE COMMON FRONT UNION, ANA AVOILA, SAYING: "The justice of this strike is visible to ev
- Embargoed: 20th March 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Portugal
- Country: Portugal
- Topics: Employment,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVADNEJKLZ5Q3NGAY6XK0VUKEAFP
- Story Text: Portuguese civil servants shut schools, courts and hospitals on Thursday (March 04) in a strike to protest against the Socialist government's drive to cut spending.
Union leaders hope the strike will be the biggest in years as civil servants challenge the government's freeze on their wages this year during a deep economic downturn that has taken unemployment to its highest in a quarter of a century.
"Civil servants won't back down, they will resist, to change the government's position," Ana Avoila, coordinator for the Common Front Union, told Reuters outside a social security centre in central Lisbon which had shut for the day.
"Hundreds and hundreds of public services are now closed in health services, local government and other ministries with 70 to 90 percent of workers on strike," she said.
A finance ministry official said the government would provide an evaluation of the impact of the strike later in the day. Unions and authorities usually provide widely differing assessments of workers' participation in strikes.
The strike in heavily indebted Portugal follows industrial action in Spain and Greece, which announced 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in spending cuts on Wednesday (March 3), targeting civil servants, the rich and the church, to cut its huge debt burden.
Portugal's unions say they have had years of worsening conditions as public pensions and other benefits were cut by the minority Socialist government.
The Iberian country of 10 million people is recovering from its worst economic downturn in decades and unemployment, at 10 percent, is the highest in a quarter of a century.
The government is preparing a long-term plan to cut the budget deficit to below 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2013 after it reached 9.3 percent of GDP last year.
Portuguese unions have threatened more stoppages if the government extends the freeze on civil servant wages beyond this year and may try to persuade private sector workers to join.
Public transport workers did not strike on Thursday but customs officials did. Social security offices, schools, hospitals and courts were closed across the country.
The government is also losing popularity due to allegations by the opposition that it tried to interfere with the media.
A poll released this weekend showed the number of Portuguese who have a positive image of Prime Minister Jose Socrates fell to 29.4 percent in February from 40.3 percent in January. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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