[Onthebarricades] PORTUGAL: General strike in public services to protest cuts

[Andy]

http://www.nosweat.org.uk/node/474

Europe
Portugal Hit By General Strike
Lisbon's metro and river ferries are out of action, but commuter trains and some city buses are working.

Rubbish left out for collection overnight is piling up, and some schools have cancelled classes.

The strikers are objecting to public spending cuts, and reforms making it easier to hire and fire workers.

Flights cancelled

Some hospitals have delayed non-emergency surgery, but health workers, like many other public servants, are legally obliged to provide a minimum service.

Dozens of flights have been cancelled, according to the news agency AFP.

The private sector is reported to be largely unaffected.

"This is a partial strike with limited consequences," Labour Minister Jose Vieira da Silva told reporters.

The General Confederation of Portuguese Workers is pitted against a centre-left government elected two years ago on a promise to modernise the country and halt its economic decline.

It failed to get the backing of the country's second largest union federation, which has accused it of putting party politics before the good workers and the population in general.

The BBC's Paul Legg says Portugal had the lowest rate of growth of any country in Europe last year - 1.3% - and that the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Greece and Malta have all overtaken Portugal in terms of GDP per head.

The government says its policies are already paying off, with the economy starting to grow at a healthier rate.

But strike organisers say these gains are at the expense of workers, as unemployment has risen to more than 8% - the highest figure for 20 years.

Its call for a general strike follows a series of protests marches over the past year culminating in a demonstration in Lisbon in December, which brought 100,000 people onto the streets. 

Read on the BBC at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6703631.stm
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