Portugal's Labor Unions Ramp Up for 'Screw the Troika' Protests Against Three Lenders from the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF
Portugal union calls strike against government austerity
May 31, 2013Reuters - Portugal's largest labor union has called a general anti-government strike for June 27 to protest against public sector pay cuts, layoffs and other austerity measures imposed to meet EU/IMF bailout terms.
Previous stoppages since Portugal's mid-2011 bailout, including a general strike in November, have had little impact."It is a strike for everyone, it is a strike to promote change of policy, of the government and to call for early elections," he said.
The centre-right government imposed the largest tax hikes in living memory from the start of the year and in early May announced 4.8 billion euros in savings until 2015, including a redundancy program in the public sector.
In an amended budget, the government on Friday reaffirmed its recently-eased deficit target of 5.5 percent of gross domestic product for this year. Next year's deficit target is 4 percent. It expects the economy to shrink 2.3 percent in 2013, after last year's 3.2 percent slump, with the country expected to return to meager growth next year.
A group known as "Screw the Troika", in reference to Portugal's three lenders from the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF, plans anti-austerity rallies on Saturday. Teachers' unions have promised to start a series of strikes between June 7 and 17 during the national exams at schools.