We have to ensure minimum services, but this strike is completely unreasonable.” This is how the President of the Regional Government reacted to the general strike, scheduled for tomorrow.
Miguel Albuquerque, who was speaking during the inauguration of the ‘Somos’ store, in Largo do Pelourinho, in Funchal, has no doubts that “we have to start thinking about what world we are living in. The world has changed, we need to have a competitive economy, and it is not worth clinging to the past. Those who cannot realise this, cannot look to the future.”
The President of the Government defends “much greater flexibility,” particularly in the area of labour. “This does not mean that workers’ rights are ignored. The economy itself has changed a lot. Portugal needs to continue to grow economically, and that can only happen with an increase in productivity.”
Confronted with the positions of the unions that consider the labour package of the Government of the Republic the biggest attack on workers’ rights, Albuquerque says that “what happens is that many unions are swayed by communist parties and most strikes are motivated by partisan interests, not those of the economy.”
The labour package, he says, “introduces some of the rules that most European countries already adhere to. We have to evolve. Europe, in 1990, had 20% of the world’s GDP, and at the moment it has 14%. Do we look at this as a harsh reality, or do we stick our heads in the sand like an ostrich?”
Albuquerque continues to defend the welfare state and workers’ rights, but regrets the misinformation that has generated unrest and agitation among the nation’s workers.
“There is always negotiating capacity, just yesterday we agreed with the hotel industry that salaries should grow by 6% as this is an area of growth and sustainability,” he said.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
